


NOT EVERYTHING IS LOST

by SlytherinMagik



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2018-10-07 16:03:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 48,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10364274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlytherinMagik/pseuds/SlytherinMagik
Summary: Draco is shunned and ridiculed by everyone in the Wizarding World. He needs the Golden Trio's help to get his son admitted and treated in St. Mungo's for his sickness, but it's more than just that. As time passes, the Golden Trio get to know more about Draco's sufferings and need to help him when his life is in danger.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone, this is my first ever fanfiction and I will be very happy if you people could give me your opinions through reviews, even if it is criticism, it's ok. Your thoughts will help me improve the story :)

**NOT EVERYTHING IS LOST**

**CHAPTER 1**

It was a lovely day but not all that lovely for one Draco Malfoy, 24 years old, blond hair and grey eyes. He was a ball of nerves, his hands were shaking very badly and it wasn't only because of cold, it was more due to the fact that he had not eaten anything for two days . Draco was hiding in an alley behind an old grey building beside the Ministry's main entrance and sneaking glances at the ministry workers entering the Ministry of Magic. He had been waiting there for the past half an hour and was already exhausted. He didn't even know if his idea was going to work. Before you think anything, let me make it clear that he is not plotting to take over the Ministry. He was merely waiting for one of the Golden Trio so that he can explain his situation and ask for help. Yes, Draco Malfoy wanted help from the Golden Trio! How the mighty have fallen! Afterall he didn't have a choice...he had thought of a million things already and couldn't come up with anything else. It was almost an hour when Ron Weasley showed up , by which time Draco had already given up, thinking the Golden Trio obviously wouldn't use the Main Entrance. They were likely to directly floo over to the Ministry.

Ron was very agitated. He had had a row with his wife because he forgot to buy eggs along with a million other groceries he had to get from the supermarket. Hermione was always in a very bad mood nowadays because she was finding it very hard to manage their two-yr-old daughter Rose. It wasn't like she was babysitting her the whole day. Rose spent almost the entirety of the day at the Burrow with Molly while Ron and Hermione worked at the Ministry and only stayed with them in the evenings, but today Molly was visiting Bill and Fleur and had wanted to spend the day with Victoire .So Hermione will not be coming to the Ministry. Their fight had escalated pretty quickly from eggs, to the bread he had forgotten the previous day ,and the milk he had forgotten the day before, by which time Ron had given up and left the house, slamming the door shut. He now couldn't use the floo and had apparated to two blocks right of the Ministry and was walking to the Main Entrance to flush the toilet. He hated using the toilets as portals.

Draco was about to leave when he caught sight of the bright red hair. Draco had wanted one of the Golden Trio to show up but he was hoping for it to be Granger as she will not draw conclusions before listening to him. Weasley was most likely to hex him into oblivion as soon as he caught sight of him but he neither had the energy nor the time to wait for Granger . Claire will already be waiting for him. So, he slowly crept towards him not wanting to get caught. He took hold of Weasley's arm from behind just before he entered those toilets and dragged him along to the alley.

"Let go of me! " he screamed.

Draco let go as soon as they were safely hidden in the alley and Weasley spun around to face him with his wand. Draco could see that Auror training had not been wasted on Weasley as Draco had not even seen him trying to grab his wand and he looked menacing with his height and sturdy, muscular physique.

"What the hell , Malfoy?! What do you think you're playing at?! Whatever you are trying to do is not going to work."

"Weasley-"

"Do you know how much trouble you are already in by trying to abduct an auror?"

"I wasn't trying to abdu-"

"Do you know how many years of jail that could earn you!?"

"No, listen-"

"You will never tire of your nefarious schemes will you?"

"What are you-"

"Are you plotting to take over the Ministry?!..Because I'm warning you your plan is not going to -"

**"WEASLEY,CAN YOU JUST SHUT UP FOR A MINUTE?!"**

That definitely shut him up. Draco took a deep breath and tried to calm himself . This was already turning out to be a very bad idea. At this rate he didn't even know if Weasley will listen to him.

"I didn't try to abduct you, Weasley. I'm not plotting any nefarious schemes and I'm not planning on taking over the Ministry." , he said slowly like talking to a kid who doesn't understand anything.

"Then what are you-",began Weasley.

 **"Will you just hear me out?!"**...No,he couldn't lose his temper, not now. He wanted to just let it all out but he didn't know how to begin or where to begin from.

"Will you say something?" , asked Weasley.

"Yeah, just give me a minute."

Surprisingly, Weasley nodded.

So, with a deep breath he began his tale. "As you know, I was sentenced to two years imprisonment. After being released from Azkaban, I found out that all the Malfoy property was confiscated and all our Gringotts' vaults were empty. The Ministry had seized everything in the name of reparations. I had nowhere to go .I tried contacting mother but no one knew her whereabouts. Rumour has it that she fled the country. Father of course is serving his life sentence in Azkaban. No one would hire an ex-death eater, obviously. My friends were either in Azkaban or they didn't want anything to do with me .

Atlast, I found Astoria. The Greengrasses weren't involved with the dark side so they retained all their wealth. Astoria was kind enough to help me, eventhough her parents weren't all that happy about it and we soon became friends. After about a year of my release, Astoria realized that she was deeply in love with me and asked me to marry her. I didn't love her in a romantic way but I did have a lot of affection for her and seeing as I was very well indebted to her with all that she has done for me , I agreed. She went against her parents' wishes to marry me. Her parents didn't want her to get involved with a death eater. She was almost disowned but retained her individual fortune which wasn't a lot and she started working as an apprentice in a law firm. I tried very hard to seek employment . I didn't want her to carry the burden of the family , especially when she became pregnant. I only found the job of a janitor in the new shop in Diagon Alley. He was an American and didn't know about my past so agreed to hire me. I worked hard and then Scorpius was born.

We were very happy but one day, Astoria wanted to take Scorpius shopping in Muggle London and I agreed to accompany them. I wanted some air, so got out of the book store and started walking a little. It was my first time in any muggle neighbourhood and I didn't know how to cross a road or anything. Suddenly Astoria came running out of the store and pushed me out of the way . Before I noticed what was happening she was already hit by the approaching truck and died on the spot.

I was devastated. I was left alone with only my son. We also lost the house we were staying in as Astoria's parents retracted all of her wealth after her death. I missed her terribly. Scorp and I stayed on the streets for a few days before I rented a one room flat in Holbeck with my meagre savings . I went back to work to find out that I had lost my job because I was absent for many days without a notice. I realized I had come a full circle. I can somehow take care of myself but with no job I couldn't take care of a 6 month old baby. So, I ventured out into muggle London and after many difficulties I-"

At this point , Draco stopped. He didn't want to tell Weasley what he had become. It was already taking a toll on him to tell Weasley of his struggles and destitution when he had mocked him for his poverty in his childhood.

"I found a job", he finished lamely.

Ron could see that Draco was hiding something but didn't want to prod him. He could see how difficult it was for Draco to admit to his poor status. He actually felt quite bad for the git. He couldn't let it show so rather asked - "Now, what do you want me to do , Malfoy?"

Malfoy glanced into his eyes. Obviously, Weasley wouldn't have patience and want him to get to the point as soon as he can. It was a miracle in itself that he listened for so long without interrupting.

"Scorpius is sick. Very sick. Mungo's is not ready to treat him. They won't even let me step foot into the hospital. They outright told me they will not treat a death eater's son. I already lost my wife, I couldn't bear to lose my son as well, Weasley."

Draco's eyes were stinging. Ron could see he was on the verge of tears but didn't allow them to drop. To say he was shocked will be an understatement. He couldn't imagine that Malfoy will willingly cry in front of Ron of all people.

"I just want you to use your influence and somehow get my son admitted into the hospital."

"My influence?" asked Ron.

"Yours, Potter's or Granger's...I know only you people can help me. They cannot deny anything the Golden Trio says, can they?"Draco finished with a hopeful look.

Ron stared and he stared and he stared. He knew he should say something but he didn't think he can decide on his own. He didn't want to help the prat. It was a good retribution for all that he had said and done to them in school but they were just kids and Malfoy was a kid. He cannot be held responsible for everything he did as a kid and they themselves did some pretty horrible things in return. No, it wasn't time for some petty revenge. Malfoy had suffered a lot and it's a serious issue here. It wasn't totally about Malfoy at all, it was about a child and he couldn't let a child die no matter how horrible his father was. But he will have to speak to Harry or Hermione before making any commitments.

"Ok, I'll try. Don't worry."

"There's one more thing." Malfoy spoke hesitantly, not meeting his eyes. " I need someone to look after Scorpius when I'm at work. I had my neighbour looking after him all these months but she is now shifting to Australia and I don't have any friends or relatives to leave him with. I tried for some daycares and baby centres but the fees is too high. I...I don't have...enough money to pay for him. Can you do something about that?"

Ron gaped like a fish. It must have cost Malfoy a lot to openly admit he didn't have money and to ask for monetary help from him. This was too much to grasp. He needed to speak to someone about this. He hurriedly said-"Malfoy, I'm taking you inside the Ministry ok? I want to talk to Harry before I can help you. I'll cast a disillusionment charm on you, so people won't be able to see you but the Ministry has ways for detecting intruders. Luckily, only the Auror department will be notified so I will be able to manage. But that doesn't mean you can try anything funny. I want you to stay close and don't wander off anywhere. Is that understood?"

Malfoy nodded. Ron cast the charm and started walking towards the entrance. He instructed him what to do and they were off.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

As soon as Draco landed in the atrium, the alarm went off. Everyone panicked and started looking in all directions for the intruder. Five to six aurors arrived armed with their wands. Ron held up his hands to quieten the chaos and told the aurors that it was just a suspect he had brought along for one of the cases and he wants the identity of the suspect to remain a secret. The aurors gave him wary looks but allowed him to pass. Draco quietly followed. They soon reached the DMLE on level two, passed the set of heavy oak doors and entered the Auror Department. Ron nodded politely to a few red-robed aurors in the cubicles who happened to glance his way and reached the end of the hall. A plain brown door was marked "HARRY POTTER". He knocked and entered.

"Harry, thank god you are here. I thought you would have left to investigate the Bradshaw's case." , said Ron with obvious relief on his face.

Harry was sitting at his desk, peering at a few case files. Draco saw that Potter still looked the same. With the same unruly, jet black hair, emerald eyes and the stupid scar. He just looked a little mature, which was to be expected.

"Hey mate, I was just leaving. What happened? You look frazzled." asked Potter.

"I have someone with me here."

Harry peered over Ron's shoulder with curiosity. "Who?"

As soon as Ron cancelled the disillusionment charm and Draco appeared, Harry stood up with lightning speed with his wand drawn, pointing it at Draco.

"What is he doing here!?"

"Harry, put down your wand. He means no harm." said Weasley.

" _How do you know that and how do I believe that?_ Did you even bother getting his wand before bringing him here?" Potter asked , eyeing Draco with disdain.

Weasley had the ability to look abashed. He quickly changed his expression and said "That's not really necessary, Harry. He has told me everything and doesn't mean to attack anyone here."

"That's all very good but I still don't trust him. Give me your wand , Malfoy."

"Harry-" began Weasley, but before he can say anything else,

 ** _"I said give me your wand!"_** Potter snapped.

Draco hastily withdrew his wand from his cloak pocket and threw it towards Potter which he caught with his seeker reflexes. "Now, tell me what is your business here." It was more of a statement than a question. Draco didn't want to start all over again , so he looked at Weasley for help and Ron complied. He told Potter everything, from Draco's circumstances to his meeting with Astoria, their marriage, Scorpius' birth, the accident and Scorpius' sickness.

Hearing everything Potter asked one question which brought all of Draco's hope crumbling down.

"And why should we help him? I'd say he deserved what he got."

Draco stared at Potter. He couldn't believe Harry Potter was saying this. The same Harry Potter who wore his heart on his sleeve and wouldn't think twice before risking his own life to save that of a stray cat's.

"Harry, what's wrong with you?! Isn't it enough that Malfoy had suffered so much to pay for all his mistakes that you want him to continue to suffer?" Weasley said with a bewildered look. He was clearly upset from Potter's attitude.

"He knows that we will take pity on him with his 'oh so tragic tale' and he's just making use of our kind-heartedness, Ron. Don't you see? He's just manipulating us with his pitiful status and exploiting our hospitable tendencies!"

"And what do you think he will gain from that?"

"Oh I don't know. We should ask **_him_** that , don't you think?"

"Harry, you're just-"

"It's ok , Weasley. I'll just go." Draco broke in. He couldn't stay there anymore. Not when it was clear that he wasn't going to get any help. With great difficulty he had brought himself to ask for help, swallowing his pride. He knew pride won't get him anything and Potter had just mocked his status. He knew it was his fault Potter doesn't trust him but that doesn't decrease the dejected feeling that was developing in his gut.

"Malfoy-" Weasley started to say something but he didn't want to hear it. He didn't have the time for that. If he wasn't getting any help from them then he will have to do something else. Scorpius was in a serious condition and he will have to do something. But what? He had already tried everything before approaching the Golden Trio. No, he couldn't lose Scorpius. His poor Scorp. He will go to St. Mungo's and grovel on their feet to get his son treated. He will lick each and every healer's boots if he had to, but he won't let his son die.

Draco ran from the Ministry not caring that people were giving him wary looks. They were sneering and spitting at him. He was used to the contempt and scorn by now. He used the floo to reach St. Mungo's and as soon as he reached there , he was spotted by a mediwitch .

"We told you we are not going to help you, Malfoy. Why are you here again? Leave, before I call the security." she said.

"Just let me speak to a healer." pleaded Draco.

"I told you we cannot help scum like you, now just go away-"

Draco pushed her away and ran towards a couple of healers who had just come into the reception area "Please just take a look at my son. If you can just diagnose what the problem is you don't even have to keep him here, I'll take him home but tell me what the treatment is. I don't even know what disease he has contracted-"

"Mr. Malfoy, will you refrain from behaving like this. This a hospital and such behaviour will not be tolerated here. You are causing a commotion and disturbing other patients-"

"If you people had agreed to see my son , I wouldn't have had to resort to such measures. Aren't you healers supposed to treat everyone? Didn't you take an oath to heal everyone without any discrimination?" By this point, Draco's voice had raised several decibels. He couldn't contain his anger.

"You have no right to teach me my job , Mr. Malfoy. Now please leave before I-"

 **"Before you what? Throw me out? That's the best you can do , isn't it? My son is ill and he deserves treatment, you hypocrites. You don't deserve to be a healer"** spat Draco.

The healer's face turned red with anger **." Security, take him away!"** she screeched and Draco was grabbed by two hefty guards and literally thrown outside the hospital. He stood up and soon was hit by dizziness. He remembered he hadn't eaten for two days and was feeling very weak. He managed to walk a few paces without falling but his vision was darkening and he leaned against a wall by the side of the road and slowly slid down. He felt someone touching his arm before darkness enveloped him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review. They motivate me to continue writing!


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

Draco was not aware that among the onlookers at the Mungo's waiting area was Hermione Granger-Weasley. She had gone to the hospital for Rose's monthly check up. She just wanted to make use of the opportunity of being at home on a weekday, to do things she otherwise didn't have time for, but she didn't think she'll encounter anything like that. She was just about to leave when Malfoy had flooed in and was talking to a mediwitch , then all of a sudden he had pushed her away and ran to a few healers at the end of the hall. Slowly their voices escalated and it wasn't long before a screaming match ensued. Everyone there were staring unabashedly and Hermione could hear every word even from the end of the hall before the guards manhandled him.

Hermione exited the place to see Malfoy a few feet away staggering across the street. She wanted to know what was wrong. From what she heard , she drew the conclusion that the hospital had refused to treat Malfoy's son but her curiosity was piqued. She wanted to know the details but knew it wasn't her place. She was just about to apparate when she noticed that Malfoy had slumped near a wall. He looked ragged and Hermione slowly approached him. She had just put a hand on his arm to catch his attention when Malfoy flopped forward. Hermione managed to catch him before he hit his head on the pole right in front but couldn't very well leave him there. She had brought him home and he was now lying on the couch in the living room.

Rose was asleep upstairs which left Hermione alone with the prat wondering what she was gonna do when he wakes up. She can't help but notice Malfoy looked a mess. He had bags under his eyes. His once shiny hair that was always slicked back was now lying limp. He looked too thin like he was starving himself or something. He was all skin and bones. His skin had an unhealthy palour to it and his clothes...they looked too old and all mismatched. She was finding it hard to believe that the once pristine Draco Malfoy could even look like this. His phone had been ringing for the past fifteen minutes and that was another thing! Draco Malfoy had a mobile phone! it was ringing again but Hermione didn't think it will be right to pick up his phone. Curiosity got the better of her and she started sifting through his contacts and tried to get a few of his details. There were a couple of new messages which she hesitated but opened anyway.

_Draco, why are you not picking up the phone?_

_Call back as soon as possible._

_10:50 am_

_Draco , is everything alright? Pick up the call._

_Scorpius has been asking for you_.

_11:12 am_

_Scorpius has become unmanageable._

_He has been crying non-stop. Come_

_fast Draco._

_11:21 am_

_You know I have to go to work, don't you._

_I already asked you not to be late._

_I have already declined_ _**two** _ _clients and cannot afford to do so again._

_Are you coming already?!_

_11:25 am_

All the messages were from someone named Claire. Even the missed calls were from Claire. Hermione knew she couldn't ignore the calls anymore. So as soon as the phone started ringing again she picked it up.

 **"Draco!...You know I have to work! Just because you have been hiding from Graham , you don't expect me to do the same too, do you? Not to mention that Scorpius has been crying for the past half hour and nothing I say is calming him down. Now will you bloody well say something?"** she practically screamed in Hermione's ear.

"Hello?" said Hermione

"Hello...I thought it's Draco's number. I think I dialed a wrong number. I'm so sorry for screaming like that..."

"Oh no, this is Draco's number. He's just not well at the moment so couldn't pick up your calls"

Hermione can feel the other woman panicking. "What happened?!" Claire asked hastily." Is everything alright? And may I know who I'm talking to?"

"He'll be fine. I'm Hermione. Draco and I were in school together. You seem to have some important business to attend to. I don't mind taking care of Scorpius if you like."

"Oh...no, it's ok, I don't want to bother you-"

Hermione cut her off . "It's no problem at all. I already have a two year old daughter, so I can easily take him in. Besides, Draco is here, so Scorpius will be happy."

After a moment Claire hesitantly agreed and asked Hermione to message her the address so she can drop Scorpius off. After twenty minutes, the doorbell rang. Hermione opened the door to a black-haired, blue-eyed girl. She had put on lots of make up . Her hair was worn in a mushroom cut and she wore high heels, short skirt and a matching top. She seemed to be in a hurry. She glanced inside the house to make sure Draco was there and then she handed a wailing kid to Hermione, thanked her and left in the waiting cab.

Scorpius was crying uncontrollably but as soon as he saw his father lying on the couch, he silenced himself and toddled unsteadily towards him.

"Daddy...Daddy..." he tried to wake him up. Hermione kneeled beside him and spoke politely" Daddy is tired and sleeping , Scorpius. Maybe we should let him sleep, hmm?" Scorpius nodded. Hermione couldn't help but notice the striking similarities between Malfoy and his son. The same platinum blonde hair, the same grey eyes, the same pale skin, he looked like a young Malfoy clone. Scorpius climbed atop his father and soon fell asleep. She carried him upstairs to Rose's room and put him beside Rose in the crib.

She came down and started cooking lunch. She was almost done and saw that it was already 2:00pm. Malfoy had been unconscious for three and a half hours. That wasn't normal. She went back into the living room and cast a few diagnostic spells on him. He was starved and malnourished. He had almost no fluid in his body and his starvation had caused a few ulcers to erupt in his abdomen. Well, that explains the skin and bones. She quickly got some porridge ready before casting _Ennervate._

Malfoy jerked awake and snapped his eyes open. He looked around trying to take in his surroundings and then his eyes fell on Granger. He sat bolt upright and stared at her with shock. He quickly came out of his musings and asked "What am I doing here, Granger?"

"Hello to you too, Malfoy" she said.

"Cut the crap, Granger!" Atleast some things never change.

She sighed and continued "I was at the hospital when you had that row with the healers and then I came outside to see you flumped against the wall. Before I can say anything you passed out, so I brought you here."

" 'Here' in the sense, this is your house?" he asked and Hermione nodded. "I couldn't just leave you there."

"Of course you couldn't " he replied sarcastically while looking around the house."Now, could you tell me what the time is?"

"It's almost 2:15." she replied.

" **2:15?!"** he looked at her as though she had sprouted an extra head. "Shit, I had to pick Scorpius from-"

"Scorpius is upstairs."

"What ?"

"Scorpius is upstairs." she repeated calmly. "Claire called you many times and I picked up the call. She said that she had to go to work and something about already missing two clients so I offered to take care of Scorpius."

"Oh"...Draco didn't know what else to say. He had wanted to meet Granger this morning but after the turn of events at the Ministry he didn't think it will work out anyway. Hermione glanced at him, pushing the bowl of porridge into his hands. "I made you some porridge."

"That's all very nice, Granger ,but no thank you. I don't want to intrude upon your hospitality. I should probably get going. If you could bring Scorpius down"...He placed the bowl on the side table and stood up. And as soon as he did that the world spun and he almost passed out again. Granger caught his hand and pushed him back on the sofa.

"Oh, of course, I'll just go bring Scorpius and then you can go." she said sarcastically. Malfoy glared.

She pushed the bowl back into his hands but Malfoy still made no move to eat it. "Lose the attitude, will you, Malfoy?" she spoke roughly. "You are starving which has resulted in abdominal ulcers and you still want to be a stubborn git. Just eat!" Draco couldn't argue with that and the smell of food was very tempting so he quickly began consuming it.

" I'm going to wake the kids up so they can have lunch. I think you should give it some time before consuming solid food because of the ulcers. Stay on a liquid diet for a couple of days"

Draco nodded. He didn't even know when he was going to get his next meal and Granger was talking about 'liquid diet'. He snorted but Granger didn't hear. She came down carrying Scorpius and a little ginger-haired girl following quietly behind. As soon as Scorpius saw Draco, he jumped into his lap with his hands around Draco's neck.

"Hey Scorp...have a good nap?" asked Draco. Draco was relieved to see Scorpius was fine and enveloped him in a hug. Thank Merlin no strange symptoms erupted while he was away. He discreetly started checking him but everything seemed fine.

"Rosie, go introduce yourself to Mr. Malfoy." Hermione said ushering her towards Draco.

She walked confidently to him and held out her hand. "I'm Rose Granger-Weasley. " she said in a squeakish voice. It was rather cute to see a two year old behaving like this. She reminded him of Granger when she was little. Draco shook her hand. "Hello there Rose, I'm Draco and this is Scorp" he said gesturing to Scorpius.

Draco looked up at Granger and said with a playful smirk- " She is adorable, Granger and we can see she has inherited her mother's attitude."

Hermione smiled. She was quite surprised that Malfoy was behaving very politely to her daughter and Rose soon became comfortable with him. They had their lunch and Hermione could see that Draco adored his son from the way he was feeding and playing with him. Scorp and Rose started playing with her toys and all the while Rose was chattering about her play school, friends and dolls . Malfoy listened intently and replied to all her questions. Hermione didn't think Malfoy can be so good with kids and since Rose was so busy with Malfoy, she didn't even annoy her. It was only when Malfoy decided to leave did she throw a tantrum. She was rolling on the floor and crying as she didn't want them to go.

"Hush, Rose. Mr. Malfoy has to go home. Now, be a good girl and stop crying."

"No, I don't want them to go!" she cried.

"He said he will come back tomorrow, Rosie. Stop rolling on the floor. You don't want to be dirty when daddy comes home, do you?" Hermione sent a pleading look towards Draco.

"No! No! NO! NO! " Rose screamed.

Hermione was steadily losing her temper. "Stop it, Rose. You can't force people to act to your whims!" She in turn screamed.

"Hey, hey, hey...I'm not going ok? Stop crying." Malfoy spoke gently. He kneeled down and picked her up. Rose stopped crying and sent a watery smile his way. He wiped the tears and sent her up to play with Scorpius.

"Thanks, Malfoy but you shouldn't have done that. Those tantrums are an everyday occurrence. I would have somehow managed." she sighed.

"That's ok. Children are expected to throw tantrums. I'll stay until she goes to bed."

"Yes, well...Ron will be back home soon and Harry is coming home for dinner today and...I don't know how they'll ...react seeing you." she said hesitantly.

Draco had been dreading seeing Weasley if he came home when he was there and now Potter was gonna be there too. Shit! What was he gonna do? Before he could reply, the front door opened and Weasley stepped in with a bouquet of flowers. He didn't notice Draco and walked straight to Granger.

"Hey, Mione, I'm so sorry I walked away like that this morning. See, I brought you your favourite flowers and I promise I won't forget to buy eggs again." saying this he almost kissed her before Granger pushed him away with a horrified expression. Only then did Weasley notice Draco and he let out a very unmanly squeak.

Draco was trying very hard not to burst out laughing but he couldn't contain his smirk. His eyes were shining with amusement.

"Malfoy!"

"Hello again, Weasley."

"You're in my house!"

"A very astute observation. I must compliment you on your gifted skills for stating the obvious, Weasley." he smirked.

"And how exactly did you get here?" Weasley asked.

"Let me explain." Granger broke in. She went into the long tale of how she came to be in the hospital and everything that she witnessed. Draco had had no idea at the time that Granger had been at the hospital and had seen him in a vulnerable state. She spoke as though Draco was not present in the room. When she was done, Weasley turned to him and said- "I apologise for Harry's behaviour in the morning, Malfoy." Before Draco could say anything, Granger broke in _again._

"Wait a minute, am I missing something?" she asked, looking at Ron and Draco.

Ron glanced at Draco for permission and at Draco's nod, he repeated everything Draco had said that morning. At the end of which , Granger started giving him sympathetic glances which he absolutely hated.

"Stop looking at me like that, Granger. I don't want your pity." he snapped.

She quickly looked away, embarassed. All three were then left standing in the middle of the hallway in an awkward silence. Neither knew what to say. Hermione was the one to break the silence.

"I'm going to make dinner. Harry will be on the way." she said and made her way to the kitchen.

"I'll just go get changed." Ron muttered and left.

Which left Draco contemplating fleeing from the house but Scorpius was upstairs. He didn't want to see Potter but he didn't have a choice. So he just walked back to the living room and plopped down on the couch. He definitely needed a drink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review!!!!


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

Harry had just reached home and he went straight to his bedroom and lied down on the bed. He had a full furnished two bedroom flat in muggle London, just a few kilometres away from Diagon Alley. He loved his flat. He had picked up all the furniture and interiors on his own. He had plush navy blue carpets and silk curtains. His furniture was all dark mahogany wood and the cushions were a light beige. It gave him a homely feeling and he was always comfortable here. A thousand times better than Grimmauld Place. So now he was lying in his bed, fully dressed with absolutely no energy to make a move to get ready for dinner with his friends. He enjoyed these friday night dinners but it was days like this when he wished he could just call Hermione and tell her that he won't be coming and then enjoy sleeping forever. He was so damn tired. He had spent the whole day enquiring people and filing suspects on the Bradshaw's case.

After about twenty minutes of lying in bed he knew he couldn't delay any longer and decided to get ready. He went to the bathroom for a nice hot shower and was just removing his robe when something clattered to the ground. He picked it up and realized that he had not given back Malfoy's wand and just like that his conversation with Ron after Malfoy's departure started replaying in his mind.

_"Bloody hell, Harry! What possessed you to do that?!" asked Ron._

_"What do you mean? I don't think I did anything wrong. He really deserved it."_

_"Don't be stupid, Harry...you are always ready to help everyone. What happened now?!"_

_"It's Malfoy, Ron. Have you forgotten what he did!" Harry exclaimed._

_"You can't take revenge for pranks he played as a kid!"_

_"I'm not talking about those silly pranks. Have you forgotten that he let death eaters inside Hogwarts?!_ _**He is the reason Dumbledore died!** _ _"_

_"Don't talk rubbish, Harry. We both know Dumbledore would have died anyway. As for letting death eaters inside Hogwarts, he has already served his punishment for that in Azkaban. Besides, you were the one who spoke for him at his trial, didn't you? About how he saved our lives in the Manor, about how he lowered his wand and couldn't cast the Killing Curse? You stood against the Wizengamot for him and told them that everything he did was to save his family and he was just a kid! What changed now?"_

_Harry sat back in his chair with a sigh." I...I don't know." he whispered. He really didn't know. His mood swings were as bad as that of a teenage girl, as were his opinions. One moment he says something and the next moment he does something else. Hermione had been urging him to see a healer but he didn't want to discuss his life and opinions with a stranger who will definitely bring in the topic of the war which he dreaded._

_"You ok mate?" Ron asked, patting him on the back._

_"Yeah, I'm fine. We'll talk about this later."_

_Ron nodded. Harry had left after that and had totally forgotten about the Malfoy matter. Until now._

Harry stared at the wand. Now that he thought about it, he could see how rude he had behaved in the morning. Malfoy had needed some help and Harry had not even bothered to process the whole information before satirizing his situation. Ron had said that Malfoy's son was very sick and Harry hadn't even thought about that poor child. Maybe he should try to find Malfoy to atleast give back his wand? He will have to ask Ron if he knew anything else about Malfoy's son and his condition. He will then decide how he can help him. He placed the wand beside his on the table and went to get ready. He dressed in a casual plum coloured T-shirt and blue denims. Before leaving he kept his wand in the pocket of his jeans and then decided to take Malfoy's wand too. He used the floo to arrive at The Maple Apartments which is where Ron and Hermione lived.

As soon as he arrived in their living room, he thought he was dreaming. Ron and Malfoy were sitting on the couch and chatting merrily with laughter and all and each had a glass of firewhiskey in their hand. Rose was playing with a little kid who appeared to be a younger version of Malfoy who Harry could only assume to be his son. Malfoy was the first to notice him and his smile froze on his face . Ron greeted Harry with a nervous smile before asking him to join them. Harry didn't know how to respond so he just walked over and sat at the armchair beside the couch. Ron offered Harry a glass of firewhiskey which he gratefully accepted because he didn't know how to deal with the awkward situation in front of him.

Draco sat looking at his glass, not once looking up. He was contemplating saying something but didn't know what. He glanced up once and saw that even Potter was just gawking at his glass. Draco noticed that Potter actually looked quite good in his tight fitting T-shirt and jeans. His clothes seemed to compliment his eyes, reflecting their radiance. His green orbs were as deep as the forest and had a fire behind them , his damp hair was falling into his eyes and Draco had a sudden urge to brush those strands aside. His lips were a pale pink, a bit chapped and Draco watched as they curled around the rim of the glass imagining them to be...then he shook his head, berating himself for having such thoughts and decided to focus on the situation at hand. So he went back to staring at his glass.

Ron was not sure how to handle the situation. He didn't know what mood Harry was in and how he was going to react to finding Malfoy in his house. Till now Harry appeared to be normal, he didn't seem like he's gonna flare up or anything. He just appeared to be confused but he knew Harry's mood cannot be trusted to remain the same. He thought he should let Harry know why he was hosting Malfoy in his living room.

"Um..Harry-" He began but before he could say anything else Hermione came running and hugged Harry.

"You know I'm still mad at you for missing last week's dinner, don't you?" she asked with a mock pout. Harry laughed and hugged Hermione back. "You know I couldn't have helped it, Mione. We had just gotten a lead on the potions abuse case and I couldn't have waited any longer."

"I know, I know...even Ronald hardly stays home at nights nowadays." she said sending a snide look towards Ron.

"Hey, you know Harry and I mostly work on the same cases!" Ron piped in with a horrified expression.

"Ah, the perks of being an auror!" Harry said sarcastically and high- fived Ron. Hermione glared at them.

"Yeah, yeah...you people continue this way and you are not getting any dinner tonight." she said narrowing her eyes.

"Oh come on, Mione...you can't stay angry with me after giving me such an exuberant hug." Harry said mischievously.

"You two have become such masters of manipulation. Now come, dinner's waiting. I made beef stew and treacle tart."

They hurriedly went over to the kitchen where Hermione had set up a small table with napkins and cutlery.

Draco sat on the couch sipping his drink when Hermione came back. "The invitation was for you too, I made you beef broth since you cannot eat solids."

"You really want me to join?" Draco asked warily.

"Of course, I don't want my broth to go waste. Now come quick before it gets cold."

Draco slowly made his way to the kitchen where Weasley and Potter were already seated conversing about some suspect while Granger was serving dinner. Rose and Scorp seemed to have followed them there but were immersed in their games. Draco sat down beside Weasley facing Potter. Potter eyed him suspiciously.

"He's staying, is he?" he asked.

"Yes, Harry!" Rose seemed to have only noticed that her godfather was there and she jumped on him, bouncing on his lap and almost knocking over his plate.

"Rose! Don't do that!" Hermione shrieked but Rose didn't seem to mind.

"Draco play ball with Rose. He is good!" she squeaked.

"Oh really?" Harry snorted. Draco scowled.

Rose told Harry everything she did that day in broken sentences before leaping across the table and sitting on Draco's lap. She really was one hyperactive child. Scorp then walked over to Harry and stared at him for sometime before holding out his hand with a serious look. He was probably trying to imitate Rose from when she introduced herself to Draco but Scorp doesn't say anything yet except 'daddy'. He had only turned one about three months ago.

He looked so cute and reminded Harry of Malfoy on the train trying to offer his friendship all those years ago and he burst out laughing before shaking his hand enthusiastically and balancing him on his lap. "And what is your name young man?" Harry asked cheerfully.

"It's Scorpius." Hermione chimed in.

"Hello, Scorpius. I'm Harry." he said, smiling at him.

"Hawwy." repeated Scorp.

Draco was startled. Merlin's pants! The second word Scorp uttered and it had to be 'Harry'!

They finished their dinner and Hermione started serving dessert. Ron was just stuffing his mouth greedily with treacle tart while Harry was perched on the rug and playing building blocks with Scorpius. Draco and Rose were sitting at the table and scribbling something in Rose's drawing book. Hermione smiled looking at the pairs. She found it very sweet that the kids have so easily adapted to them. Harry seemed to adore Scorpius in such a short while just as Draco doted on Rose. They seemed to have taken a liking to each other.

Draco's phone started ringing and Hermione watched as Draco handed Rose to Ron, excused himself and made his way to the balcony to pick up the call. All of a sudden, Scorp clutched his chest and doubled over. The next second he vomited blood all over the carpet. He was keening in pain, tears were streaming down his face and he couldn't seem to stop retching. He was finding it hard to breathe and was gasping for air.

"Oh my god!" Hermione covered her mouth. Her voice shook with panic. There was so much blood.

Harry rubbed Scorpius' back before swiftly carrying him and turned to Hermione.

"Hermione, tell Malfoy we are in St. Mungo's. Ron, come with me." he spoke rapidly.

Ron appeared to be petrified. He was staring at the scene with wide eyes, not even blinking.

"Ron!" Harry yelled which brought him out of his stupor.

He quickly handed Rose to Hermione and within a fraction of a second, they disapparated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thrive on reviews. So PLEASE REVIEW!!!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, my laptop crashed when I just finished the fifth chapter, I thought I would have lost the file and will have to write again but luckily it was autosaved and I was able to recover it. So here you go!

**CHAPTER  5**

"Hello darling" Draco drawled. He was standing on the balcony on the ninth floor of The Maple Apartments, leaning over the railing and enjoying the view below.

"Hello Draco!" Claire screamed from the other side of the phone . "Are you alright?! "

 Draco was sure that one day he was going to rupture his eardrums from just speaking to her. He had learned to use a phone only a couple months back and he was much better at it than this hideous muggle girl. He might be living with muggles for the past nine months but he still loathed them....except for Claire and Mrs. Dopkins. Whatever he might say, he had a soft spot for these two people but he will never admit it openly .

 "You know, some people are pretty fond of their ears and will like to retain their auditory perception." he dragged.

She didn't seem to hear that. "What exactly happened today?! " she screamed again.

"Nothing much." he sounded bored.

"Draco......." she said in a warning tone.

"Alright, alright. I fainted."

"Again?!" she pretty much shrieked this time and Draco rubbed his ears and checked his hearing before replying.

"Yep."

"Don't sound so cheerful, Draco! When are you going to learn to eat?"

"You are talking as though I'm starving myself deliberately. You know I don't have the money to buy food for myself. What with the rent of the flat and Scorp's potio........ **medicines**." he finished a little harshly than necessary. He had almost said 'potions'....he needed to be careful while talking.

"You spend all your money on Scorp's medicines and don't even tell me what exactly is wrong with him...." she accused him.

 _That's because I myself don't know,_ he thought. "The doctors are not sure yet." he replied instead.

 

Scorpius had been on these potions for the whole of last month. Since the healers were not ready to assist him, Draco had had to help himself. He was glad that he was proficient in potions, it had always been his favourite subject. He wasn't sure what was amiss with Scorpius but he had been working on a few brews to stabilize his condition. There was just no pattern for these symptoms. On and off he gets a fever which doesn't stay for more than a day, inexplicable bruises and cuts, internal bleeding for no apparent reason which was too much to handle for a one year old and just last week Scorp had been taking his afternoon nap when he had fractured one of his fingers in his left hand.

 

Draco had invented a potion called _Atenuo Poculum_ which helps to reduce the effects of these symptoms, so if something happens, there will be some discomfort but Scorp won't have to suffer the worst of it. He had also been administering some of the more usual ones like the Strengthening Solution, Vitamix Potion whenever necessary. Unfortunately, potion ingredients cost a fortune and now Scorpius' condition seemed to have worsened. The _Atenuo Poculum_ was not working as well as it used to and Draco had realized that it was time for professional medical aid which is why he had approached the Golden Trio.

 

"So, when are you planning on returning to work, Draco?" Claire asked.

"Who said I am?"

"You realize you can't keep hiding from Graham forever, don't you? It's better to just apologize, he might forgive you...."

He snorted. 'Forgive' and 'Graham' can never fit into the same sentence. "Don't fool yourself, Claire. As soon as he sees me, he's gonna skin me alive."

"What are you going to do for money then?"

"We'll see."

"Fine!" she snapped and then suddenly her tone changed to one of sauciness. "Anyway, I have been wanting to ask you...who was that girl?" Draco could hear her smirking from the other side of the phone.

"Keep your dirty thoughts to yourself, will you? She is just a classmate from school. Besides, you know I am more into guys than girls." he finished with a smirk of his own.

"Pity that...I have been working so hard to seduce you and you never seem to notice me." she said with an exaggerated sigh.

 Smiling, he turned towards the doorway to see a distraught Granger running towards him.

"Mal...Malfoy!" she panted like she had run a marathon or something.

"Granger."

"It's Scorpius." she said and Draco's blood ran cold. He disconnected the call without so much as a bye.

"What happened?" he asked, urging her to continue.

"He was coughing up blood..... Harry has taken him to St. Mungo's.... He...." she was still panting but Draco was already running to the fireplace. He quickly threw the floo powder and said 'St. Mungo's', in an unsteady voice.

He reached the hospital using the visitor's fireplace and looked around. He didn't know which ward Scorp had been taken to, so not having a choice he approached the receptionist.

"Not you again!" the receptionist shouted as soon as she laid an eye on him.

"Where is my son?" he demanded.

"Have you gone barmy? Why will we have your son? If you have come to cause a commotion again then I think I will have to call the aurors this time. The guards don't seem to work out." she said, already reaching for the floo powder.

"That won't be necessary, Miss....Kaylee" Potter said, glancing at her badge.

"Mr. Potter!" she gasped.

"You see, the kid that was just admitted here was Mr. Malfoy's son. Scorpius _Malfoy._ " he said, looking down on her with a fierce glare.

"Oh!" she sounded surprised.

"Do you have a problem with that?" he asked with the same grim expression.

She seemed to curl in on herself. Draco had to admit, Potter did look quite intimidating with that dangerous look plastered on his face.

"Of course not!" she said, quickly shuffling a few papers on her desk. "He's on the second floor- Magical Bugs and Diseases, Mr. Malfoy.

 

Draco sprinted to the lift, not waiting for Potter. The second floor appeared to be empty except for one lone occupant of the waiting room. Draco approached Weasley as soon as his legs could carry him.

"Where's Scorpius?"

Weasley looked up. His face was chalk white, like he had seen a ghost.

"In the emergency ward. The healers haven't said anything yet, just asked us to wait here." his voice was barely above a whisper.

Draco nodded. _Deep breaths....deep breaths...don't panic......don't panic......_ he repeated like a mantra. But saying was much easier than doing.

He was unable to stand still, so he began pacing the room.

Weasley seemed to have recovered a little from his ordeal and he was watching Draco as he was pacing, his eyes moving like a pendulum.

"Can you calm down, Malfoy?"

"No I can't." he replied without a pause, in his no-nonsense tone.

Weasley opened his mouth to say something else but thought better of it.

Just then Potter appeared with two cups of coffee. "I brought coffee." he said, as though it wasn't  obvious. He offered one to Weasley and then slowly proceeded towards Draco, like approaching a dangerous animal.

"Coffee, Malfoy?"

"No thank you, Potter."

"It might help to----"

 _"I said no thank you **Potter**." _  he spat the word like it tasted bitter on his tongue, topped with his renowned Malfoy sneer. And it worked. Potter backed off.

About fifteen minutes later, a healer came into the cabin.

"Mr. Malfoy?"

"Yes."

"I'm Healer Allen." he said holding out his hand."Your son is fine now but you cannot meet him yet. It was a case of pneumothorax, more commonly known as lung collapse. We have fixed it and he should be okay by tomorrow afternoon." he paused.  "What is odd is that pneumothorax doesn't usually happen without a reason. A lung collapse is not very common, it only occurs when the chest experiences a severe trauma like a fractured rib or some external injury like a knife wound. So, we don't know what caused it in little Scorpius." He sounded thoroughly confused.

"That's basically the case for everything that happens to him nowadays." Draco muttered.

"Pardon?"

"It's been like that for a month now... fever, bruises, fractured bones. They happen for no reason whatsoever and your hospital didn't want to find out what the problem is." Draco scowled.

Allen looked disconcerted. "And how have you been managing it?"

"I have concocted a potion called _Atenuo Poculum,_ it's a brew that minimises the effects of anything that happens to him so he won't have to endure the full extension of the affliction. But it's not of much help now. His condition appears to have worsened. A lung collapse.......that has never happened before."

"Mr. Malfoy----" Allen began but Draco wasn't finished yet.

"And if you are going to talk about the legality of administering an unregistered potion, then you can save your breath. I wasn't going to sit there and watch as my son was waning away."

"I wasn't going to say that. I merely wanted to ask you to submit the names of the ingredients and details of the said potion as it may help to diagnose his ailment.... because I haven't heard of anything like this before."

The last sentence successfully managed to dispirit Draco. He just nodded.

 

************

 

It had been three hours since Draco had come to the hospital. He had given all the details of the potions he had used on Scorpius and everything that his son had suffered for the past month. All the paperwork was done. Now all he could do was wait. They weren't allowed to see Scorp yet as he was still in critical care. So Harry, Draco and Ron were seated silently in the waiting room. It was so quiet that they appeared to be hardly breathing.

It was then that five healers entered the room along with Healer Allen. They introduced themselves and got down to business without wasting a minute.

Healer Allen was the first to talk."We tried all types of detection charms on Scorpius and every medical record has been perused. We haven't seen anything like it before."

"The research department has been working on his case for the past three hours but they haven't found anything of worth yet."  Another healer, a short woman with light brown hair spoke up. Draco thought her name was Taylor or something. "Your potion was very efficient in maintaining Scorpius' health the whole of last month but as you suspected his condition has indeed worsened."

"Tests are still being conducted to identify his ailment but until then we have come up with something to avoid such afflictions in the future." Healer Davis was the next to speak.

They handed him two potions. "The purple one is a stabilizer. As the name suggests, it will help stabilize Scorpius' condition for the time being. The grey one is a stronger version of _Atenuo Poculum_. Apart from these potions we are also of the opinion that we should probably conduct a few monitoring sessions every week that will apprise us prior to any further prolapse. These sessions will include casting of advanced and complicated spells using some special equipment. It will only be a fifteen to twenty minute process."

"So now all you're saying is that nothing can be done about it and we just have to wait for further deterioration of Scorpius' health?" Draco asked. His face contorting in ill humour.

Harry can see that the situation was getting out of hand. He walked over to Draco and placed his hand on his shoulder to be shrugged off.

"We didn't mean that, Mr. Malfoy. You must realize that Scorpius' ailment is an unusual occurrence. There has been nothing like this before." Healer Allen said.

" I don't care! I just want my son treated!" he screamed.

"Malfoy...." Harry called, placing his hand on Draco's shoulder again which he immediately threw off.

"The research department is analysing his case round the clock." said Healer Davis.

"Well, fuck the research department. My son is dying dammit and I can't just sit and watch!" he screamed again.

"Malfoy, please calm down!" Harry pleaded.

Malfoy turned to him with a murderous look. "Just stay the hell out of this, Potter." he warned.

"Please mind your language, Mr. Malfoy. You should be grateful for what we have done till now. You know very well that a death eater spawn doesn't deserve it." Healer Taylor said carelessly.

 ** _"How dare you!"_** Malfoy spat, gritting his teeth. He advanced towards her but was quickly held back by Harry.

It was at that moment Ron decided to intervene. "Excuse me! You have no right to say that!" he said.

"But Mr. Weasley----"

"I'd like to continue this outside." he said, ushering the healers out of the room and following behind.

Draco was trying very hard to spring apart Harry's hands and sprint towards Taylor. Eventhough Draco was not as strong as him, Harry was finding it very difficult to hold him back.

"That _bitch_!" he sneered.

"Malfoy---"

"Let me go, Potter!" he said, struggling.

"Malfoy, please listen---"

"Unhand me or you are going to regret it!"

"No."

"I'm warning you Potter, just release me!

"Malfoy....." Draco didn't seem to hear. Harry tried again. "Malfoy!" Draco was still trying to wrestle him down.

"DRACO!" Harry yelled and he immediately stopped struggling. They stood like that for a few minutes, both breathing hard.

Harry was still scared to relinquish his hold of him. Then Malfoy looked up with tears clinging to his eyelashes. He looked so small and broken at that moment that without thinking Harry just pulled him into his arms. Draco tried to weakly push him away but Harry didn't give in. After a moment, Malfoy started crying. Wracking sobs escaped his chest and Harry could feel the wetness of his tears creeping into his shirt.

"Shhh." he whispered. "It's going to be okay, Draco. Scorp's gonna be alright." He kept murmuring soothing words into his hair. "We will soon find out what the problem is. I'm sure Hermione will help. Don't worry, Draco." he said, while holding him tight against his chest.

"I can't lose him." Draco whispered, his voice hoarse from crying.

"You won't lose him." Harry assured.

After a while his sobs died down. He peeled himself away from Harry and walked to a nearby chair. His eyes were puffy and his face was a blotchy red. He sat staring at the floor.

Then Ron came in looking agitated. "I spoke to the senior consultant and that woman has been sacked. He also assured me that Scorpius' case will be given full consideration. You will have to sign a few more papers, Malfoy and pay in advance for those sessions. The bill is roughly around five thousand galleons."

Harry watched as Draco's face was drained of all colour. He was still staring at the floor but Harry could hear those cogwheels turning as Draco's brain got to work. Ron and Harry exchanged a knowing look. They knew he was thinking from where to obtain such a large sum of money. Before either of them could say anything, Draco stood up.

"Weasley, can you please take care of Scorpius for now? I have some important business to attend to."

"Sure." said a confused Ron and Draco walked out.

As Draco walked to the exit, he was thinking. His brain was working faster than a bullet train.

_Five thousand galleons....five thousand galleons....that's almost equal to twenty five thousand pounds! Where the hell was he going to go for that much money. He will have to think of something. It concerns Scorpius afterall. Even if he does find another muggle job, he couldn't earn twenty five thousand pounds so fast! Not to mention the fact that Graham was sure to find him as soon as he steps out into the muggle neighbourhood. His men were everywhere for god's sake! Hang on...Graham! That's just it! Maybe it was time to take Claire's advice into consideration.....Maybe it was time to meet Graham himself._

 And he strode briskly towards the exit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for those lovely comments. Hope you are liking it so far. If yes, then please review! :)


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER  6**

Draco walked until he reached a dingy alley in Hammersmith district. He discreetly checked for anyone following him before entering the place that stank of garbage and piss and what not....spurting their putrid stench into the air. No matter how many times Draco had crossed this place, he never fails to gag. It always reminds him of the repugnant stink of a bloated and rotten corpse. Gah! He was going to be sick! But he knew this was the one place where he was sure to find Graham. So he quickly made his way to the back of the alley, breathing through his mouth and trying to stifle the urge to puke.

He knocked on a door which was almost hanging off its hinges. A young lad peeped through it and as soon as he saw who it was, gave him a vile snigger.

"Brave of you to show up here." he said, mock bowing and gesturing with his arm as though welcoming a guest.

Draco quietly passed. He had learned the hard way not to reply with biting remarks to people who work here  in Graham's so called safe-house.....even if it was only a boy in his teens. He passed a few men drinking and gambling in a small corner of the room. He crossed the hallway loaded with all kinds of contraband weapons. It was the arms trafficking spot. He then wended his way through the backyard where illicit drug smuggling took place. A few men were already stumbling to the exit, high on marijuana.

Draco trudged his way to the other side of the building and to the back room. The door was open and he could see Graham was seated on a divan and a man was showing him the latest weapons which haven't made it to the market yet. Some other men were around the room, lazing around and drowning in alcohol while a few boys were serving them. These men were Graham's personal favourites. They were given high positions in Graham's businesses (if you could call it that) and were high profile criminals themselves.

Draco walked inside and every eye turned towards him. The place suddenly quieted down giving him an eerie feeling.

"Ah! Look who's here boys!" Graham roared with a devilish grin. His gaze was something akin to that of an animal scrutinising its prey and waiting to devour it.

Graham was a beefy man, clean shaved, average height and next to no hair on his head. He was one notorious criminal and was involved in every illegal profession one could think of. You name it and he has his hands in it. Be it gunrunning, unauthorised drug trade, human trafficking, smuggling and.........

"Atlast decided to grace us with your presence, my slut?"

.......Not to forget the number of brothels he ran.

"Graham...I...." Draco stuttered. He was always very eloquent but it seemed today, his voice ran out.

"Yes, yes, come to return the money, Draco?" he asked, still wearing the devilish grin.

"No....I...I actually.... _need_ money, Graham." he said, not meeting his eyes.

Graham burst out laughing. "He is really funny, isn't he boys?" he asked, peering at the other men. They all remained quiet.

Then he suddenly straightened up and glowered. Gritting his teeth he hissed,

 "It is no time for jokes, Draco."

"I've got a deal." Draco replied.

" _You are in no position for deals either._ " he hissed again.

Draco always knew getting Graham to accept is not going to be a duck soup. So he adopted an air of nonchalance and plastered his charming smirk on his face. He sauntered towards Graham and gracefully sat on the divan beside him.

"I know, baby but you wouldn't want to lose your best hustler, would you?" he whispered in his most seductive voice.

Graham decided to play along. His expression changed to smug from that of fury. He turned towards Draco with a wicked grin.

"My darling Draco, of course I wouldn't want to lose you, but I hope you haven't forgotten the twenty percent share you had neglected to give me."

Of course Draco remembered. That was the root of this problem, wasn't it? Hookers working under Graham were to pay twenty percent of their earning on each client to him which Draco hadn't done for the past month. He was at a shortage of money for Scorp's potions so he had tricked Graham and kept the money to himself. He still wasn't sure how Graham got to know but when he did, Draco knew it was time to flee.

"I've brought you a perfect deal. You'll love it." Draco expressed in a spicy tone, splaying out his hand on Graham's thigh for good measure.

"Let's hear it then." he said, smiling mischievously at the hand on his thigh.

"I need twenty five thousand pounds. You give me the money and are free to have your way with me for the next two months. You get to choose all my clients and it will be that way till I pay back the debt."

Graham was still staring at the hand that was slowly inching upwards.

"I'd like to add a few of my conditions." he stated.

"Conditions?" Draco stopped moving his hand.

"You didn't seriously expect me to just accept anything you say...?" Graham looked up. The smirk still playing on his face.

"Sure, go on." Draco quickly said with a fake smile of his own.

"You are to report to me anytime I summon you. You have no say on the... _type_ of clients I choose. As for the debt,  you cannot pay me back as you wish. Until these two months are up, you don't get to keep a single pound you earn to yourself. I'm going to wait for two days before giving you the money. Couldn't exactly trust you not to run away after what happened last month, could we? Every client you take up should pass through me and this goes on until you pay back every single pence you have borrowed. Clear?"

"Crystal." said Draco before he could think of what he was agreeing to. He didn't want to give his brain time to think of the implications of this deal lest he be tempted to deny. "But--"

"You don't have much choice, Draco." Graham cut in. "You only have two options, you see. You accept the conditions or you die." Graham whispered evilly.

Draco nodded. He hurriedly stood up, "I'll just be going then. See you tomorrow" and he walked hastily to the door.

"Draco dear?" He stopped walking but didn't turn around. _Who are you fooling, Draco? Nobody walks out of here unscathed,_ he thought. He slowly turned.

Graham's smirk had now turned into a full-fledged grin. "Come on Draco, you know you still have to pay for what you cost me last month, don't you? One doesn't simply get away with deceiving Graham." he said and signalled his men forward.

Draco stood stock still as Graham's men surrounded him. They were each sporting terrifying grins. When the first punch hit him in the stomach, it was so out of the blue that he fell to the ground, his breath leaving in a whoosh. After that, Draco had no idea how long they kept hitting him. A volley of blows was being showered on him and he couldn't even fight back. He had a deal afterall.

 

***********************

 

An hour later he found himself thrown outside on the street with a "Don't be late tomorrow." barked at him. He tried to stand but a sharp pain shot up his ankle and he fell face- first on the ground. He slowly crawled to the wall and using his hands as support he heaved himself up on shaking legs. His ankle seemed to be sprained and thankfully not broken. Now that he could focus on other parts of his body, he found that his eye was swollen, he was sporting a torn lip, he could feel a few cuts on his face and there was a constant ache in his thorax region. He touched his chest and then "AHHH!", keeled over. Definitely a broken rib or two.

He began his slow pace back to the hospital. He couldn't help but think of the implications of this stupid  deal now. Yes, he did manage to get what he wanted but that wasn't an excuse to what he had just gotten himself into. Every single pence he earned was to be given to Graham, so how the fuck was he going to pay for other things? The flat, food, Scorp's needs...... and to top it all, where was he going to leave Scorp until he got back from work? Mrs. Dopkins would have surely left for Australia by now.

 He will forever be grateful to Mrs. Dopkins for being there for Scorp whenever he needed her. She was a kind old lady who lived alone in the flat beside his and adored Scorp. He could always leave Scorpius with her whenever he had to go. It wasn't like Mrs. Dopkins didn't know about his line of work, what with the way he always went there reeking of sex to pick up his son. He absolutely hated doing that but he didn't want to take advantage of her kindness by leaving Scorp there until he could shower and change and all that. She did look at him with disapproval but never disgust and they never spoke anything about his profession. But now she was getting too old to cope with staying alone and had finally decided to shift to Australia where her daughter lived. So now he didn't know where to leave Scorpius. Gosh! Why do so many problems crop up at the same time!!

It took him a good hour to limp back to the hospital and he entered the waiting room to see Potter curled up in a chair, dozing. Weasley was nowhere to be seen.

 

Harry had asked Ron to go home to Hermione and inform her of the situation at hand. He knew she will be worried sick with no news on Scorp. He had been waiting for Draco for so damn long but the tiring day he had been through had finally taken a toll on him and he had fallen asleep. He had contemplated following Draco but didn't want to give in to his obsession from sixth year , he didn't even have a good enough excuse to do that this time.

Harry woke to some crashing noise and looked around to spot Draco on the floor with a table turned over. He quickly helped him up only to back off with a horrified expression. Draco looked like hell. His eye was swollen shut and he was squinting through it. His face was covered in blood. He had bruises littering his face and his breath was coming in sharp gasps. He was limping and almost fell again before Harry caught him. He seated him on a chair before yelling,

"Draco, what happened to you!?!"

"Why do you care?" Draco bit back.

"Wait, I'll just go get a healer." and he ran.

Harry came back with a healer who seemed like he was roused from sleep. His lime green robes were wrinkled and his hair was ruffled . He patched him up as good as new with a few simple spells.

"All the cuts and bruises have been treated and the ankle should be fine in an hour or so. Two of your ribs were broken and one was cracked which I have healed, but they will still be sore for a couple of days. Don't carry any heavy load for a few days until they are back to normal. It was a miracle you managed to walk with the extent of your injuries." He then left.

Harry then rounded on him.

"Who the hell did that to you?!?" furious from what he had just witnessed.

"None of your business, Potter. And why are fretting your poor little brain over it?"

"Because I care about my fr----..........because I'm an auror." He had almost said ' _Because I care about my friends.'_   What was wrong with him?! Draco wasn't his friend. And when the fuck had he started calling 'Malfoy' as 'Draco'. He could only blame it on his sleep-deprived brain. Stupid Brain!

"And I don't wish to file a complaint. So you don't need to get your knickers in a twist."  Draco, No Malfoy said.

"Merlin, Malfoy! Do you always need to be so curt? You should have seen yourself in the mirror when you came in."

"I'm sure I would have still looked better than you." he smirked.

Instead of getting angry, Harry started laughing. Even Draco looked surprised. Seeing Draco's expression, Harry immediately stopped laughing. He went to the far end of the room...far away from Draco and sat down there. He could feel Draco's eyes on him but didn't dare look up. He knew he was behaving oddly but couldn't help it. He was very confused. Why was he worried over Draco? And what just happened a few minutes back? Why did he laugh? Shouldn't he feel angry that Draco had insulted him yet again? And the comment about friends.....what was that? How can he refer to his long time enemy, his arch-rival as _friend_? And will he please stop calling him 'Draco'?!! He can only blame it on his stupid brain, so he did. His brain must surely be addled. Stupid Bradshaw and his stupid case and the stupid investigation and STUPID MALFOY!!!!!!

 

***********************

 

Harry had barely closed his eyes when he was rudely woken up. Someone was shaking him awake.

"Wha---? Hermione! What are you doing here in the middle of the night?" he asked, rubbing his eyes and trying to chase away sleep, which was proving to be very difficult.

"It's not the middle of the night, Harry. It's almost 11 am." she said, casting a _tempus_ charm for him to see.

"What?! ...I only just slept!!" he exclaimed. He looked around and found Ron chuckling beside him.

"All good, mate?" Ron asked.

 Harry nodded, stiffling a yawn. He noticed that Draco was absent.

"Where's Malfoy?" asked Harry.

" With Scorpius. He will be discharged in another two hours."

"And how long have you been here?"

"I came at 10. Malfoy looked like he hadn't slept the whole night. And you were sleeping peacefully there, so I didn't want to disturb you. And now even **you** look like you hardly slept." she gave him a questioning look.

"I did sleep, Hermione but I'm still so tired." he yawned.

"Just go home, Harry. It's a saturday, so you can rest without worrying about anything. Even I was just leaving. Should pick up Rose from Molly's."

"Yeah, I'll do that. I'll go check on Scorp first." he stood up, trying to flatten his hair in vain.

He made his way to Scorp's room. Knocking quietly, he went inside. What he saw made him smile. Draco was sitting in an armchair beside the bed with Scorp in his arms. Both were soundly asleep. They looked so cute together, two pretty blonds wrapped snugly around each other. Hang on! Did he just call Malfoy 'pretty'? He definitely needed more sleep.

He walked over to them and placed a kiss on Scorp's forehead. He had been terrified when Scorp had vomited blood. In such a short while he had started to care for the kid. He petted his head and walked out.

Reaching home he flopped down on the bed, but something seemed wrong. He was so very tired but he just wouldn't fall asleep. His mind started revisiting the incident last night.

_Draco was so badly injured. Who had beat him up? Was it something to do with the money regarding Scorp's sessions? Harry knew he didn't have the huge sum but Draco hadn't said anything about it. What if he was in trouble?_

He tossed and turned but to no avail. His brain had gone into the _frantic mode._ He decided to have some calming draught. He reached for his wand to summon the potion when he realized there were two of them. Shite! He had forgotten to give back Draco's wand. He will have to track him down to return it. Oddly, the thought of seeing the blond git again was enough to calm him down and he was quickly lulled to sleep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please Review!!!


	7. Chapter 7

 

**CHAPTER  7**

"Are you out of your mind?!!"

"Stop yelling at me, will you? It was _you_ who asked me to approach him in the first place."

"Don't blame this on me alright?! It's _your_ idiotic plan and _your_ insane deal!"

"I didn't know where else to go for the money!"

Draco had come to Claire for help as soon as Scorp was released from the hospital. He had had no idea what to do and his brain was totally blank, so he had decided to  approach her. Seeing his frustrated state, she asked him to have some food before dwelling into the matter. Claire believed that food was the solution for every problem. So he told her everything over lunch and as soon as he was done, Claire  started shouting at the top of her voice.

"God, Draco! And what _else_ have you planned? Obviously you'll have something on your mind on how to fill your stomach... or have you decided to go beg on the streets?"

"You know what? You can take your steak and shove it up your ass." Draco remarked, his eyes flashing. "It was a mistake coming here." he stood up, pushing his plate away.

"Hey, Hey, Hey! I'm sorry alright? I'm finding it hard to grasp everything you told me. It was one crazy deal you had just made. I didn't mean to be rude." she looked apologetic so Draco let it go.

He sat back in the chair with his head in his hands." I don't know what to do, Claire. Maybe I shouldn't have given in to Graham's demands." he sighed.

Claire sat down beside him and rubbed soothing circles on his back.

 "Don't dwell on it. You already made the deal so there's no point in regretting it, besides, as you so very well put it, Graham would have skinned you alive otherwise. Your two months start today right? Leave Scorp with me for now and just go to work without worrying too much. We'll see if we can make any other arrangements tomorrow when you're back."

"You have work too, remember? How will you take care of Scorp?" he peered at her.

"I'll take a day off. I don't really need money now  seeing as one of my clients had taken a liking to me and I have decided to properly empty his wallet before letting him go." she gave him a cheeky grin.

"You'll never change." he said, shaking his head.

"Never, baby." she winked.

 

After lunch he decided to head home and rest for a while before he has to report to work.

"Claire? I'm going back to my flat to catch up on sleep before work. I'm leaving Scorpius here."  he called before stepping out the door.

"Bye darling." she called back from her room.

 

***********************

 

Seven o' clock found Draco dressed in his skin-tight black leather pants and a very revealing white shirt. He styled his hair into the just- shagged look, which had him thinking of Potter's messy black strands. Forcing his brain back to reality, he left his house for Holbeck's red-light district, a rundown suburb overlooking the glittering tower blocks of the city. His flat wasn't very far from the place and it took him a little under  ten minutes to reach Britain's first official sex industry.

He had never been here this early before. His usual arrival was at 9:30. People were just opening the multitude of sex shops and strip clubs. There were a number of brothels and various adult theatres. Sex workers were prowling the area, waiting for their first guests.

Draco went inside Graham's Brothel to find it almost empty except for  Mia, who manages the clients.

"Hey, Mia."

"Oh Draco, thank god you're here. Mr. Cole has been waiting for you for the past twenty minutes."

"Mr. Cole? Isn't he one of _Claire's_ usuals?? What does he want with me?"

"Quoting his words, he said he was in the mood for a sexy laddie today." she said, making quotation marks in the air.

"You know I don't take on clients like him. Ask him to look for someone else." he dismissed.

Mr. Cole was some of those rough clients whom Draco never undertook. Claire didn't mind though, she said it got her more money, but Draco never approved.

"He was sent by Graham, Draco." she said, eyeing him pitifully.

Draco should have known Graham wouldn't go easy on him.

"Which room?"

"316." she replied shortly.

Draco trudged up the stairs and stood outside 316, staring at the door. He didn't want to go in. It had been a week since he had last done this and he was feeling queasy just from the thought of what he had to do. He contemplated bolting, although that wasn't option. He stood there for a couple more minutes, though it felt like hours. Atlast, he pushed the door open before he could change his mind and found Cole sprawled on the bed, in just his boxers.

"You must be Draco? Graham said you are very good. Let's see if he was right, shall we?" he gestured with his hand to come over.

Draco slowly walked to the bed. Cole was double his age and almost triple his size and Draco prepared himself for a long night.

Cole ran his hands all over Draco's body and Draco almost vomited. He felt like he was doing it for the first time all over again eventhough he had been in this profession for the past nine months.

Cole asked Draco to suck him off and Draco kneeled down between his legs and before he can fully settle himself down in a comfortable position, Cole forced his dick into his mouth. Cole was huge and Draco spluttered, but Cole didn't seem like a patient man. He didn't even give him time to adjust before he  mercilessly deep throated him. Draco's gag reflex kicked in but Cole wasn't letting him get away, he fisted his hair and kept him in place. He tightened his grasp and roughly pulled at his hair, almost plucking it off his head.

When he was hard enough, he pulled Draco to his feet, turning him around, he ripped his pants and slammed into him without warning. Draco cried out. He hadn't even bothered to prepare him and was taking him dry. He brutally fucked him, pulling his hair. Draco was in so much pain. Cole was pounding into him ruthlessly and after a while he felt some stinging at his shoulder. Before he could process what was happening, the stinging turned into a terrible burning sensation. Cole was stubbing out his cigarettes on Draco's skin.  Draco was screaming his voice out and this went on till Cole found his release.

He quickly turned Draco around and pinned him against the wall. The force bumped his head onto the wall behind him and the impact of the blow left him light headed.

"You know, I hate boys who scream." he said, slapping him across the face. He started hitting him with his belt, the buckle repeatedly caught his skin and tore it open savagely. He began thrashing him across the chest which only resulted in Draco screaming even more.

"Shut your mouth, you fucking whore!" Cole yelled.

Draco screamed and screamed and screamed until his throat was raw. He tried to push Cole away, but he caught his arms and twisted them behind his back. Draco slid down to the floor and was a writhing mess but Cole didn't seem to stop. He kept belting his chest open until his hands began to ache.

"You weren't even satisfactory. I will have to let Graham know you aren't as good as he hyped you to be." he spat before leaving.

 

As soon as the door shut behind Cole, Draco vomited all over the floor and couldn't stop retching even when nothing remained in his stomach. After a few more minutes of dry heaving, Draco gathered up his clothes and dressed himself as quickly as he can, before leaving the place. He didn't even bother informing Mia and started running.

He ran until he reached Claire's door and knocked on it. She opened the door and as soon as she saw Draco, her mouth dropped open. He walked inside and collapsed on the sofa. He was sore everywhere and his once white shirt was now a dark red hue clinging to his chest, soaking in blood.

Claire quickly brought a basin with hot water and a flannel, she got out her first aid kit and helped Draco out of his shirt. She tended to the lashes as tenderly as possible, but it still hurt terribly.

"Are those cigarette burns, Draco?" she asked, carefully examining the small circular red marks that littered his back. Draco nodded.

"Who did this?" she asked, applying some sort of ointment to the burns.

"Cole." he muttered.

"Cole?" she sounded surprised. " He is one big dunderhead. He does prefer rough sex, but it is just that! He never resorted to violence and he never wounded anyone." she said, sounding confused until her eyes widened when realization dawned on her.

"Graham must have asked him to do this! That _deranged bastard!_  How can he!! That fucking piece of shit! _"_ she hissed, her nostrils flaring in anger. "This cannot go on, Draco. We'll have to do something." she said, desperately trying to knock some sense into him.

Draco didn't say anything for a long while and then,

"I need the money." he whispered. Claire wouldn't even have heard him if it wasn't so quiet.

She looked him up and down before asking,

"Did you let Mia know before leaving?"

He shook his head and she nodded.

"Graham might not take it well. It's not even eleven yet. You just stay here, okay? I'll cover for you. I'll play some cards and Graham won't know that you were absent tonight. I've already put Scorp to bed and I don't think he will wake up until morning."

Saying this, she went into her room and got dressed within five minutes. Draco was still sitting in the same spot when she came out the door. Before leaving she gave him a brief hug and a kiss on his cheek with a sad smile.

"Take care, Draco. Go to sleep. You'll be okay. Don't think about it alright?" she whispered. She seemed reluctant to go but with one final glance towards him, she walked out.

Draco went into the spare room of her home. He carefully picked Scorpius up, balancing his head on his shoulder and walked out the house. He reached his flat and gently laid Scorpius on the bed before making his way to the bathroom.

He stood under the shower, rubbing at his skin until it was raw. The water was scorching hot, burning his skin, but he didn't mind. He scrubbed at his body viciously and fell down to his knees. He felt so dirty, so tainted. His cuts had opened again and were bleeding but Draco didn't care, he only wanted to get rid of that filthy feeling clinging to him. He sat there for a long while watching the crimson coloured water running down the drain. It was only then did he allow himself to cry. Tears streamed down his face, mixing with the water still pouring from the shower. He cried until he could cry no more, by which time the water had gone cold. He turned off the shower, wrapped a towel around him and went into his room to get changed. He wore some comfortable maroon pyjamas before lying down on the bed but he knew he wouldn't fall asleep tonight.

*************************

Harry woke up sweating and panting. His sheets were on the floor, he must have kicked them off while tossing and turning on the bed. Atleast he wasn't entangled in them like the last time he woke up from a nightmare. He sat there for sometime until his heart rate returned to normal before going to the loo to relieve himself. He washed his face and a quick tempus charm told him it was three thirty.

He strolled to the hall and pulled open the curtains only to exclaim,

"What the hell?!"

It was dark outside, the street lamps illuminated the houses below and the moon was shining high up in the sky. It was night. So it was three thirty _am_?? He thought it was _mid-afternoon_. So he had just slept for _sixteen hours_ straight?

"What the hell?" he spoke to the air again.

Sometimes he wondered why he was still frightened of nightmares. He was fed up of being freaked out of them and almost always woke up sweating and shaking, eventhough his subconscious mind knew it was a dream. But today he was grateful. Atleast it helped him wake up before someone declared him dead.

He fixed himself a quick--- was it dinner? Or maybe it was breakfast...?-----whatever it was, he fixed himself a quick something to eat and sagged onto his overstuffed sofa, plate in  one hand and remote in the other. He flicked through the channels, finishing his food.

 

At six thirty he decided to head over to the Ministry and see if he can find anything about Draco. He reached there at seven and as it was a Sunday, there were very few people there. He went to his office and sent a request to the department of wizarding administration that keeps tracks of all magical folk of Britain. Until he got a reply, he decided to finish some of the pending paperwork which wasn't much, so by the time he was done, an interdepartmental memo came zooming in and neatly landed on his desk, atop the many files.

 

                                                                **_NAME:_** _**DRACO LUCIUS MALFOY**_

**_EMPLOYMENT:     MUGGLE (UNKNOWN)_ **

**_ADDRESS:            11,WESTPARK RESIDENCY,_ **

**_MELROSE AVENUE,_ **

**_HOLBECK DISTRICT, LEEDS_ **

**_ENGLAND._ **

There was also a picture of the place and apparition coordinates which will help Harry apparate to the aforementioned address without any difficulty. He left the Ministry, made a quick stop at his flat to pick up Draco's wand before apparating to Leeds.

So Draco lived in Holbeck? Thank Merlin for apparition. If Harry was to use muggle means of transport, it would have taken him a good four hours to travel to Holbeck from Hambledon. He pictured the place given in the photograph before the feeling of being squeezed through a rubber tube overtook him. He landed with a crack right in front of Westpark Residency. It was a ten- storeyed- building and a very old one at that. The paint was peeling off the walls and the apartment was in need of a good refurbishment. It would have been a very alluring structure once but not so much anymore.

Harry asked around and found out that Draco lived on the fifth floor, flat 5C. There wasn't any working lift, so Harry climbed up five floors at a quick pace and by the time he was stood outside his door, he was out of breath. It was seven forty five and Harry knew it wasn't a very good time to be knocking on people's doors. He didn't even know if Draco was awake. Steeling himself for a fight if it got down to it, he rang the bell.

Draco, as expected, had been awake the whole night and was still lying in bed when the bell sounded. He looked towards the door, as though he can see through it to whoever was on the other side. Thinking it was Claire, he opened the door roughly, only to find Potter's face nervously beaming at him.

Draco was shocked, but quickly covered it up.

"Hello, Potter. What brings you to my humble abode at such an ungodly hour?" he perfectly arched a single eyebrow in the most Malfoy-ish manner, like he used to during Hogwarts. It was so _him_ , that Harry thought it will appear wrong on anyone else.

"May I come in?" Harry asked, trying to stop staring at his eyebrow.

"Be my guest." he said and opened the door wider to allow him entry.

Harry walked into the house and found there was no more place to walk. It had a three-seater sofa, a small table with two chairs by the window. To the right there was a slab dividing the room. The other side of the slab appeared to be the kitchen. A single door lead to what Harry assumed was the bedroom and another door to the left was the bathroom.

"This place----" began Harry but Draco interrupted.

"You say one word against it and you'll find yourself leaving here missing a limb." he said casually, like he was talking about the weather, while carrying a few clothes from the sofa to the table to allow Harry a place to sit.

"------is nice." finished Harry, walking to the sofa.

He knew Draco's threats cannot be taken lightly. There was a high chance that he will actually do it.

Scorp suddenly came running towards them. "Hawwy!"

Harry picked him up and nuzzled his hair. "Hey, Scorp. How have you been?"

Scorp gave him a broad smile with only two teeth in his mouth.

"Did you miss me? I sure did miss you." he said, kissing him on the cheek. And it was true. He _had_ started to care for him.

Draco stood by the window, leaning against the table and watching Harry tickling his son. He had first thought that Potter was simply trying to be polite to Scorp but he _did_ seem sincere in all his efforts to keep Scorp happy. It looked like he actually loved him. Strange, thought Draco.

Harry interacted and played with Scorp for a long while before remembering why he was actually here. He looked up to see Draco leaning against the table, a smile playing at his lips. An actual smile, not a smirk or a sneer.

"Dra---um, Malfoy?" Harry called.

"Yes, Potter. Finally remembered why you are here I presume? I'm sure it wasn't just to spend time with my son..?" he arched his eyebrow again.

"Um..no. I wanted to return your wand." he held it out in his hand.

"Oh." Draco seemed surprised, he took it from his hand and left it on the table.

"Didn't you realise it was missing?"

"Hardly." Draco shrugged. "It's not of much use nowadays so I mostly forget about it."

At Potter's questioning gaze, he continued.

"Your precious Ministry has limited the type of spells I can use. So it's mostly utilised only for household chores these days."

"Oh." It was Potter's turn to look surprised.

"Daddy?" Scorp was suddenly pulling at Draco's pyjamas pointing to his stomach. He was hungry.

Oh no. He didn't know if there was anything at all available in the kitchen. He opened the cabinets to find two eggs. Relieved, he quickly scrambled them on the stove with some salt and pepper and served it to Scorpius. He fed him the eggs and was putting the plate in the sink when Potter spoke,

"Aren't you eating?"

"I'm not hungry." he replied without a pause. It was at that time his stomach decided to growl. He shut his eyes. Even his body wanted to betray him now. He hadn't eaten anything since that steak yesterday and he _was_ quite hungry. Potter didn't make a comment, until....

"I'm going  down to breakfast at this nearby restaurant. You want to come along?"

What? Did Potter just invite him for breakfast?

"No, Potter. Thank you but it's---" Scorp had already climbed atop Potter and was sitting on his hip, ready to go.

"Scorp, get down! You just had breakfast!" Draco tried to pull him away but Scorp just threw his arms around Potter's neck and held him tight.

"Come on, Malfoy. Even Scorp wants to go. And it _is_ a very nice place."

Draco tugged at Scorp two more times before sighing. "Fine, alright."

He changed into a snug light-blue shirt and grey trousers. They left his house and walked side-by-side with Scorp still on Potter's hip.

Potter took him to 'The Midnight Bell' which Draco had often seen from the outside but knew it will be very expensive and didn't dare step in. The place had a nice ambience and all the staff wore kind smiles and were ready to help. Potter ordered some pancakes with an earl grey and Draco decided to have bacon and sausages. They got Scorp a glass of apple juice. The food was delicious and Draco dug in. He wasn't sure when he was going to get his next meal, which made him all the more determined to enjoy what he had.

"I always feel like my breakfast is incomplete without pumpkin juice." Potter was the first to break the silence.

"You should carry a stash in your pocket." Draco snorted.

"Don't tell me you don't miss it."

"Of course I do, I never had pumpkin juice as good as Hogwarts."

They went on like this, making small talk throughout breakfast. Draco found that Potter's favourite colour was actually green and not red. Potter told him about his auror training and how the ministry was determined to make him the head auror, but Potter had declined the offer a number of times, not because of goodness of heart but because he will not have much of field work if he becomes the head auror and Potter loved chasing law-breakers on the field. For which Draco had laughed.

Harry watched as Draco laughed openly. He looked so charming when he did and Harry suddenly didn't ever want to see Draco worried again. He wanted him to always be happy and carefree. He was still watching Draco when a shadow fell on their table. Harry looked up to find a huge man grinning at Draco, he was missing his front teeth which made him look scary. Harry watched as Draco suddenly dropped the fork.

"Hello Draco."

"Cole." he nodded curtly, not meeting his eyes.

"Out for breakfast with your boyfriend, I see." He said, nodding at Harry.

Harry choked on his tea. "No, I'm not---"

"Yeah, that's Harry. Harry, this is Cole."  Draco hurriedly said, talking over Harry.

Harry looked perplexed but thankfully didn't say anything. Draco was trying very hard not to panic. He thought Cole won't try anything here if he assumed Draco was with his boyfriend. Cole was now ogling Harry, and Draco suddenly had a strange urge to sheath Harry from Cole's lewd gaze. Before he could say anything to divert Cole's attention towards him, he himself turned to Draco.

"Is he one of Graham's boys too? He looks pretty good. How about I give him a try. Hmm, what say Draco?" he grinned again.

Draco's eyes suddenly snapped up to meet Cole's. He tried to bottle his anger at hearing that and spoke calmly through gritted teeth.

"Harry doesn't work for Graham. It's better you just leave now. I'll see you tonight." he left no room for argument.

"That's a shame." Cole said, giving Harry a perverted stare.

He leaned down and whispered into Draco's ear. "That's one sexy boyfriend you've got. I would have loved to fuck that pretty little arse of his."

Draco straightened. Cole threw a smirk his way and walked away. Draco visibly sagged.

"Who the hell was that?!" Potter asked, glaring at Cole's retreating back.

"Cole." Draco said simply.

"I know that, Malfoy! But who exactly was he?! And what did he mean by giving me a try?"

"Potter, I think we should leave."

"No! I'm not going until you answer my questions. What was that comment about Graham's **_boys?"_**

"I'll explain outside. Now let's go, please."

"Why did you say I'm your boyfriend?" Potter asked with narrowed eyes. "You didn't truly mean---"

" _No, I didn't mean that alright?_ Can you for once listen to me and leave this place?!" Draco pulled at Harry's hand for him to stand up but Harry wouldn't budge.

"I want to know who he was."

"He is someone from my workplace, happy?!" Draco shouted exasperatedly.

"And what sort of work is that?!!!" Potter shouted back, equally exasperated.

Before Draco could make up a lie, Scorp accidently knocked over his apple juice onto Draco's lap.

"Scorp! Don't you know how to be careful?!!" Draco screamed at Scorp and Scorp started crying.

"Malfoy! He's just a child!" Potter looked at him disbelievingly before picking up Scorpius and cradling him, trying to console the wailing kid.

Draco suddenly realised what he had done and his anger dissipated immediately.

"I'm...I'm so sorry, Scorp." he cooed.

"Go get cleaned, Malfoy. I'll take care of Scorp and then we'll leave." Potter said shortly.

Draco nodded and made his way to the men's room. He felt so bad for screaming at Scorp and at Potter too. It was natural that he wanted to know everything after what he had just witnessed. He was standing by the basin, wiping the spilt juice from his trousers with a wet napkin when suddenly the door to the loo opened and Cole walked in with the same terrifying grin.

"Hello again, Draco." he said and made a beeline towards him.

 He caught hold of him from behind before Draco can even think of an escape route. Draco tried to turn around but Cole held him tightly with one hand while with the other he started unbuttoning his light blue shirt.

Draco started struggling but it was almost impossible to release himself from Cole's grip. He didn't even have his wand. It was on the table in his bloody house!

"Stop squirming, Draco. You did deny to lend me your boyfriend afterall, so I'll have to make do with you. You must realise that I don't like it when someone denies me something." he said, fully unbuttoning it and pushing it halfway down.

"Cole, let me go!"

"Oh come on, Draco. I wasn't that bad last night, was I?" he asked, reaching for the grey trousers.

Draco struggled with more force when he felt Cole's hands on his trousers, unbuttoning the fly and pulling down the zipper.

"Cole, please, not now, I'll meet you tonight, just please let me go now!!" Draco pleaded.

"Is it because your boyfriend is waiting outside? Don't worry, I'll make it quick." and he reached for his own pants.

Draco was in hysterics. He couldn't even find his voice to scream. He tried to kick him in the gut but his attempt was easily thwarted. He knew he was helpless and was about to be raped. He didn't stop struggling though.

He began hyperventilating and could feel himself losing consciousness from the overdose of oxygen when the door suddenly opened and Harry walked in. Harry immediately stopped walking when he saw what was happening. His eyes grew wide and seeing Harry, Draco smiled in relief before passing out and slumping down on the ground.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please take some time to review!!!


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER  8**

Harry was mopping up some of the apple juice that Scorp had splashed on himself when he noticed Cole entering the gents . Although the above mentioned man hadn't spoken a word to him, he hated  him already. He didn't like the way he was looking at him and Draco. What _was_ that thing about _boys_ he mentioned anyway? Now Draco was in the loo and he didn't want to leave him alone with that huge gorilla.

So Harry perched Scorp on his hip and went towards the men's room. He slowly opened the door and what he saw made his eyes magnify ten folds. Draco had his shirt open and hanging off his shoulders, his trousers were by his thighs and Cole was holding him from behind. As he watched, Draco suddenly fell to the ground and the added weight tugged Cole down too.

 _"What the fuck is happening here?!!!"_ Harry barked.

"Oh, Draco's boyfriend! Would you like to join in?" Cole grinned, standing up and trying to haul Draco onto his shoulder.

Without further ado, he quickly produced his wand and cast a stunner at Cole, who flew back from the force of it and hit the opposite wall before sliding down. Harry was furious. His blood was boiling under the skin, he felt like if he didn't calm down soon, he might end up doing something  he will regret. It had taken all his will power to cast a simple _stupefy_ rather than a _crucio._ A hundred nasty curses  were already at the tip of his tongue. He knew he cannot curse a muggle with anything serious, he knew he didn't have the licence to maim a muggle unless absolutely required but with the rage he was feeling right now, he knew he can easily cast an _Avada Kedavra_ without blinking an eye.

Instead, he waved his wand and sent two patronuses. He quickly removed his coat and wrapped Draco  just before Ron apparated in with two more aurors. He asked Ron to hold the man in custody and obliviate him, giving him a few vague details as Harry himself didn't know what he was going to do with Cole later. After another minute, Hermione apparated with a crack.

"Harry? I got your patronus, what do you need me to do?" she walked towards her best friend and then her eyes fell on Draco lying on the floor with a coat draped across him.

"What happened to Malfoy?!" she asked, her voice panicky.

"I'm not very sure, I'll just take him home.....I want you to take care of Scorp. He is scared." He handed Scorp to Hermione. Scorp seemed to be in shock, his eyes were teary and he pressed his face against Hermione's shoulder.

"Yes, alright, but Harry I need to know what------" Hermione said again while trying to calm Scorpius down.

"Later, Hermione!" Harry dismissed before she could finish the sentence, not even looking at her.

Hermione kept quiet. She knew her friend for years and had learnt not to provoke Harry when he was not in his best moods. She knew he will tell her everything once he was back to normal. So now she concentrated on the task of mollifying Scorpius. She watched as Harry crouched down and half-carried Malfoy before apparating to his house.

Harry put him on the couch and covered him with a blanket before going to the kitchen to make a strong cup of coffee that will help lessen his anger-induced headache. Fifteen minutes and four cups of coffee later, Draco stirred and came back to consciousness. Harry was seated at the dining table from where he had a perfect view of the living room and the couch.

Draco sat up and looked around. He vividly remembered the events that unfolded before he had lost consciousness and wanted to make sure that Potter had really saved him. He spotted Potter sitting at the table and sagged with relief.

"Where's Scorpius?" asked Draco.

"Hermione." said Potter. One word and nothing more.

They sat staring at each other for two whole minutes. Heavy silence hung in the air which was not comfortable in the least. Draco was thinking of something to say to him to explain the situation and was just opening his mouth to thank him when Potter spoke.

"You've changed so much, Malfoy."

"In what way?" he asked, puzzled.

"The Malfoy I knew was sure an arrogant prat who somehow got what he wanted but even he wouldn't have stooped so low." Potter said, shaking his head.

Now Draco was thoroughly confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Stop acting so innocent, Malfoy!" Potter stood up and the force knocked the chair down.

"I will, if you speak english. Stop talking in riddles and get to the point, will you?!!" Draco had every right to be irritated. Why can't Potter speak clearly?

 **"The point is that you weren't even bothered that your son is outside before effing around with that old coot!! Did you even bother to take a closer look at him?! He's double your age, Malfoy!!!** **Not to mention the fact that it was a public place! You didn't even have the patience to get a room, did you? Are you that desperate to let _anyone_ screw you?!" ** Potter yelled. He was breathing heavily and it seemed like he was trying hard not to jump over the table and throttle Draco.

 _"What?! Don't spout crap, Potter! You have no idea what you're saying!"_ Draco scowled.

"Don't I? I saw what you were doing in that bloody restroom ." Potter yelled again.

"So you're implying that I was happily fucking Cole there before you came barging in?"

"I'm not _implying_ , I know what I saw. There's no point in lying now."

"Yes, of course. You shouldn't have interrupted our little shag session, Potter. You spoiled the fun." Draco said sarcastically. "Since you noticed so much, you would have also noticed that I passed out on the floor? I'm sure your little brain would have come up with an explanation for that as well?

"I don't know! Probably because you were caught red-handed in the act, **_your_** _little brain_ was so shocked that it couldn't handle it. Whatever it was Malfoy, **I know what I saw**." Potter repeated, with enough stress on the words.

Draco snorted. What sort of ridiculous theory was that? Draco fainted due to shock? He was certainly getting on Draco's nerves now.

"I'm not blind you know." Potter said after some time.

 _"You're not blind, but you **are** definitely stupid!" _Draco glowered.

 _"I'm clever enough to know that you will spread your legs for anyone with a cock between theirs! Even if it was someone old enough to be your father!"_ spat Potter.

And that was the final blow.

 ** _"FUCK YOU, POTTER!"_** Draco yelled before stomping out of Potter's flat, banging the door closed. Only when he was outside did he realise that his shirt was still open. Quickly buttoning it and rearranging his clothes, he left the building.

 

Harry sat back on the couch which Draco had just vacated. 'Fuck you too,  Malfoy.' he thought. The headache which had quelled down a bit after four cups of coffee was now worse than ever. His skull was throbbing and Harry went into his room to retrieve a pain-relieving potion from his chest of drawers. Only when the headache had subsided a little did he start thinking.

_Why was he even bothered about who Malfoy has sex with? He was an adult and had free reign obviously. Why should he worry about who he shags, right? The only thing was that he couldn't bear to think of someone else touching Draco. The rage he had felt when Cole was running his hands over Draco was like no other. Maybe his thoughts have really gone awry and he needed to see the healer Hermione was talking about. Whoever Draco fucks, it's his business. None of his concern, really. So there was no need to raise his blood pressure over someone he doesn't care about, right?_

The thing Harry didn't realise was that his headache was back again. The thought of seeing Draco with someone else was enough to bring back his anger in full force and the empty potion vial he was holding, shattered with the pressure he had applied on it.

 

*********************

 

Draco walked towards Granger's house but he was finding it hard to contain his anger. He just wanted to go back and punch Potter in the face until it was a bloody mess. How dare he say that to him? Did it really look like Draco was enjoying himself in that blasted loo?!  He knew Potter wasn't very smart from his school days but today, Potter had proved his absolute and complete idiocy. How can someone be that naive? Oh that's enough! He shouldn't care for what Potter thought. Although unknowingly, he _had_ saved Draco from Cole, for which he was grateful but that wasn't helping him to calm down.  How dare he call Draco arrogant when he was the one so full of himself!

"Saint Potter!" he spat, which made a lady walking on the street, shoot him a weird glance.

He was so occupied with his thoughts that he didn't realise he had already crossed Granger's house and was heading towards the next street. Cursing his brain, he turned back and walked to The Maple Apartments. Using the lift, he reached the ninth floor and rang the doorbell.

"Hi Malfoy." Granger smiled, welcoming him inside.

"Hi Granger." he replied out of courtesy. It wasn't right to take out your anger for one person on someone else, even if that someone else was said person's best friend.

Scorpius was playing catch with Rose and they both ran to Draco as soon as they saw him, with a cry of

"Daddy!"

   and

"Draco!".

He knelt on the floor and hugged them both, feeling his anger ebb away. Children always made him forget everything else.

"Hi Scorp, Hi Rose." he whispered. "So what mischief did you people get up to?"

That question was enough to let Rose start her long tale of what she had been doing when Draco wasn't there. Even Scorp tried to add in his stories which seemed all gibberish but Draco nodded anyway, listening intently.

As usual Rose didn't want them to go so Draco stayed for lunch, making small talk with Granger and spending time with the kids. He enjoyed playing with children.

Both Scorp and Rose were tucked in bed for their afternoon nap when Granger turned to Draco with a grave look.

"You look very tired." she observed.

"Not sleeping at night does that to people, Granger." he replied without thinking.

"And why didn't you sleep?" she asked solemnly.

"Uh...I...um...." he stammered.

"That's alright. You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to." she said.

Well, that was surprising. Then came the inevitable.

"So what was all that about? What happened today at that restaurant?"

"I'm sure your beloved Harry will let you know." he sneered. His hands were already itching to break Potter's nose when he thought of him.

"I've never seen Harry that angry for a long time now." she said, more like speaking to herself.

"I don't understand his reason behind it actually." Draco said. He didn't think of this before but   _really **why** had Potter been angry?_

"You know you can ask for help anytime you want, don't you? Ron told me everything Harry said at the Ministry that day. But whatever Harry says, we'll always be ready to help you, Malfoy."

"Won't Potter be opposed to this proposal?" he asked.

"I don't really know." she said thoughtfully.  "He's not been himself since the war. His moods fluctuate from one extreme to the other. Sometimes I really worry about him. I know his behaviours are odd and I apologise for what happened at the ministry but we're talking about _you_ here. Forget about Harry. Are **_you_** alright?" she asked, with concern in her eyes.

"I'm fine, Granger. It's very charming that you want to help and I really appreciate your concern but----" Draco stopped himself. Can he really ask her for help? Merlin knows he's **not** fine! So should he or should he not? She **did** sound very genuine afterall. He decided to give it a go.

"Well......you _can_ do me a favour actually." he said cautiously, eyeing her expression.

Granger smiled. It was like she knew Draco was not fine and will eventually ask for help. And knowing Granger, Draco was sure that was the case.

"I already spoke to Weasley about this. My neighbour has shifted to Australia and she was the one who was always there to babysit Scorp when I'm at work and now I don't have a place to leave him at. It's only during nights and Scorp doesn't usually wake up until morning. I know looking after Rose will be hectic, but can you..... I mean can I leave Scorp here when I cannot watch him?" he asked reluctantly _. Goodness! Why was it so difficult to ask for help?_

"Of course. I don't mind at all." she was still wearing a smile.

"You sure that won't be a problem?"

"Not at all. Scorp is a well behaved child and Rose will be very happy." she said cheerfully.

"What about Weasley? Don't you have to ask him?" Draco wondered.

"Oh Ron!" Granger chuckled. "He doesn't object to anything I say." she said cheekily.

That was funny. Seemed like Granger was the domineering  partner of the household.

"So can I leave Scorp here now? I'll collect him tomorrow." he asked hopefully.

"It's a Sunday, Malfoy. What work do you do on Sundays?"

Draco didn't see that one coming. What was he supposed to say to that now?

"I don't have to answer everything you ask me, Granger. You said I don't have to say anything I don't want to, didn't you?"  he crossed his arms in a defensive gesture.

"Yeah, Yeah..." she rolled her eyes. "I'm just curious as to what sort of secret service special agent you are who doesn't want to tell me about their top-secret mission." she smirked with a questioning gaze directed at him.

Draco quickly tried to change the topic.

"If you're done trying to play detective, may I go home now?" he asked with a fake yawn. "I _am_ very sleepy."

"Okay. Bye Malfoy." she said, waving enthusiastically.

Draco gave a short wave of his hand and left her home.

 Draco initially didn't believe that Granger will be very helpful but fortunately for him he was wrong. She _was_ a very sweet lady and surprisingly he enjoyed her company. Potter was lucky to have such an understanding friend. Merlin knows he needed her to knock some sense into him. Draco shouldn't have treated her so badly in school. They might have been good friends if it wasn't for his prejudices against muggleborns. He had his lovely father to thank for that.

Happy that Scorp's problem was sorted out, he walked to his house with his hands in the pocket. He tried to forget about what he had to do in the evening, there was no point in dreading what was to come. He still had hours to ponder over that. For now, he wanted to be happy.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please keep the reviews coming!!


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER  9**

 

Draco put out his wand arm to hail the Knight Bus. He couldn't very well apparate, not just because his wand was on the table but because the ministry had put up some restrictions on former death eaters and one of them was no apparition. Probably the ministry believed that if they gave them the basic privilege of using all spells and access to apparition, the death eaters might venture out to be the next Dark Lord...?? This thought process led to Draco rolling his eyes.

As soon as he reached home and his head hit the pillow, he was asleep. After ten minutes, there was a tap at the window and he groggily opened his eyes to see an owl waiting for him impatiently.

_An owl? It has been a long time since he got an owl......_

He opened the window and the owl nipped him on the finger.

"Ow! You stupid cocky creature!" Draco glared. "You are only a screech owl and therefore have no right to be snobbish! You better learn to behave yourself! " he lectured the owl who blinked up at him. Feeling stupid for scolding a bird, Draco pulled the letter and shooed it away.

                                  

                _Dear Mr. Malfoy,_

_The Ministry of Magic has scheduled your next Ministry check_

_at thirty minutes past five on 9th August, 2004 at the Department_

_of Magical Law Enforcement. You are asked to report on time._

_Hoping you are well,_

_Sara West_

_HOD of_

_Wizarding Administration_

Draco sighed. So it was the ministry check again. The ministry conducted these checks on former death eaters at a random. He had to admit, it had been a while since he had been called, but he wasn't at all comfortable with going there now. He knew he couldn't skip it, so he put the letter on the kitchen counter and decided to go back to bed when he noticed the time.

Shit! So he wasn't rudely awaken after ten minutes of sleep. It was 7:25 pm and he was late. Hoping against hope that Graham hadn't gotten wind of his blemished punctuality, he got dressed and left for work.

 Thankfully, the night was uneventful. The clients were all of **Draco's** regulars, for which he was glad. Of course he wasn't enjoying it, nor was he very comfortable, but somehow he made it through the night and went back home to shower and change.

He picked up Scorp from Granger who insisted on breakfast since she was already feeding Scorpius. He ate quickly as it seemed like Granger was already getting late.

He reached home and decided to take Scorp to the park. Scorpius liked the swings there and it had been a month since Draco had taken him anywhere. So he decided to spend some quality time with his precious son.

****************************

 

Meanwhile, in a nice cosy flat in Hambledon, a certain black haired individual was very restless. He had hardly slept the previous night and was now pacing his flat. Bedroom to kitchen, crossing the living room reach the spare room, turn around and go to the bedroom before doing it all over again.

Harry didn't even know why he was so restless. The only thing he knew was that his mind doesn't seem to want to forget his ex-archnemesis. His brain was plagued with thoughts of Draco the whole day and the whole night from the time of his abrupt departure last morning.

_What will he be doing? Will he be alright? Was he still mad at Harry? ...._

Why the hell was Harry bothered if Draco was angry or not? Harry himself was still pissed at him......or was he? He couldn't bring himself to still stay angry.... no matter how much he willed himself to do it.

Irritated, Harry banged his head against the wall before yelling unpleasantries and deciding to just go to the ministry to forget about all this.

****************************

Alas, to no avail. Harry had reached the ministry on time and as it was, there weren't any new cases, so all he had to do was sit and brood in his office. He had already completed what little paperwork he had had yesterday and was now left with nothing to do but to think of Draco.

He was pulling at his hair in annoyance when Ron came in.

"Finally decided to get rid of the bird's nest, I see. I must say there are easier ways to do that rather than plucking it off." Ron sat on Harry's desk, pushing the ink bottle to the  floor.

"Hello to you too, Ron." Harry glared, casting a _reparo_ on the broken ink bottle.

As usual, Ron didn't pay mind to Harry's glare.

"So, what happened at that restaurant?"

"Straight to the point, I see."

Ron shrugged. " To be honest with you, I did come in here only to know what happened before I arrived there yesterday."

"Well, that man decided to rob us." The lie came easily, but it wasn't a very good one.

"Rob you? So you cast such a **_strong_** stunner because someone decided to rob you? Before you answer that question, I'll let you know that it took us half an hour to _Renervate_ him before erasing his memory." Ron looked suspicious.

"Sometimes you can't control your magic, Ron." Harry said as confidently as he can.

"And why was Malfoy unconscious?"

"Because.....because he was shocked." Come to think of it, Harry really didn't know why Draco had fainted. He was so consumed by the anger of seeing Draco with someone else that he didn't even think about anything else. So he decided to stick with his lame theory of Draco being shocked and leading to passing out on the floor, which sounded very - **very** stupid to his own ears.

Ron just stared at him.

"That man decided to rob you?" Ron asked.

"Yes."

"So you decided to use **powerful** magic on an unsuspecting muggle?"

"Yes."

"And Malfoy passed out because of shock?"

"Yes."

"Do I look stupid enough to believe this?"

"Yes... I mean NO!.....Um..." Harry tried to look anywhere but at Ron, but Ron kept staring at him. Oh yes, he was _very_ suspicious now.

"What?" Harry snapped, feeling awkward.

"Nothing." said Ron.

"I hope you have better work to do than staring at me." Harry said, attempting to rearrange the files on his desk to do something with his hands.

"I'll be going then."  Ron jumped down the desk.

_What? Ron was going? Harry knew Ron didn't believe him and he had every reason not to. But it wasn't like him to just let it go. Ron always prodded out information and wouldn't leave Harry alone until he was satisfied with the answer he got. So what changed?_

"Just so you know, mate, I know you will tell Hermione what happened and just so you know, she will let me know!" Ron said with a grin before slipping out the door.

Ok, so Ron still knew his best friend as well as he always did. Harry thumped his head on the desk. Seemed like it was a bad day for his head.

*****************************

Three o' clock found Harry at the Ministry cafe with a plate of untouched food. Hermione was sitting in the seat opposite him, already done with lunch ten minutes ago.

"Harry?" she began. "I know I'm very patient when I have to be but I will appreciate it if you don't test my patience."

Harry nodded but still didn't say anything.

"You called me here as though it was really urgent and haven't uttered a word for the past forty five minutes. If you aren't going to say anything, I'll just be going then." she made to stand up.

"No! Wait!" Harry pulled her back to the seat.

"You better make it worth my time."

Harry took a deep breath, attempted to speak, took a breath again and told her everything he saw at that restaurant. Hermione nodded at the right places, encouraging him to continue. When he got to the part where Draco left his flat, Hermione gasped.

"Harry, why did you say that?! You do realise that it was very rude, don't you? You have no right to go questioning  his actions!"

"I know, Mione.....It was just.....I was furious and you know I don't think before talking." he sighed.

"But Harry, that was the meanest thing you could say."

"Yes, I know and now I can't seem to forget Dra---Malfoy! The events of yesterday keep replaying and it's making me want to do _something_ about it! I feel so irritated and I don't understand why. I don't even know what I want to do!" Harry exclaimed desperately.

"It is your conscience, Harry. It has always been like that, hasn't it? You do things without giving them a second thought and then you regret it. You're annoyed at yourself for saying what you said. What you are feeling is guilt." she explained.

"Maybe." Harry shrugged. "But what do I do now?"

"Apologise."

"What? I can't apologise to Malfoy. He----"

"Harry, remember you are not enemies anymore. You're both adults now and shouldn't let your childhood rivalry influence your lives. Hogwarts was years ago, Harry......Don't let the animosity continue. Everyone grew up and people changed. Malfoy is not the same git we knew." Hermione said calmly.

"How can you say that?"

"I spoke to him, Harry. Not once did he insult me or any of you people. Not a single nasty comment about parental lineage or blood. I can see he has changed for the better. I offered to help him and he accepted. He works night shifts so I agreed to have Scorp with me at nights."

"Oh..... Scorp is a lovely kid." Harry observed.

"Yes and his dad adores him. Draco is nothing like his father." Hermione said.

Harry nodded, lost in his thoughts.

Hermione extended her hand and grasped his wrist in a comforting gesture.

"Do it, Harry. Apologise. Trust me, you will feel better. You might not be the same person you once were but you still have the good within you. It's one of the qualities I admire in you, no matter what reckless action it was, you always realise your mistake. You still have a very kind heart, Harry....and no one can change that." Hermione encouraged.

Harry nodded. "Ok...Okay, I'll apologise."

She smiled.

"I'll be going then, can't spend the whole day here." she made to leave before turning back "I just had a doubt, why were you angry with whoever Draco sees?"

"Huh?....I don't know, he was----......Is that going to be a problem?" Harry asked, bewildered.

Hermione's small smile turned into an almost-smirk but she quickly covered it up.

"No. No problem at all. Just remember that Draco does not need to be a victim of your extreme moods. Stay calm, Harry and everything will go the way you want it to." she winked.

Puzzled, he asked "The way I want it to? What do you mean?"

This time she fully smirked and left the place. Confused, Harry looked around the empty cafe, still thinking about Hermione's comment.

 

****************************

 

Scorp was with Claire and now he had to go to the ministry. He wore his old robes and black trousers, he couldn't remember when he had last worn anything remotely wizard-like amidst the muggle attire. The colour was a little faded but that wasn't a problem. He smoothed down the wrinkles in front, his own face beaming back at him from the mirror. These charcoal grey robes were his favourite. How he missed being a proper wizard.....

He entered the ministry and as usual people gave him disapproving stares. He slowly made his way to the DMLE wherein he was asked for his wand, questions about his whereabouts were posed at him, any changes since the last time he was here, etc etc etc. After he was done with the old routine, he made to leave but one of the aurors told him that his wand was still being checked and he will have to collect it from Auror Potter. Draco wasn't surprised, he knew his luck never favoured him.

He marched to Potter's office, determined to be done with this as quickly as possible. Knocking, he entered and Potter was seated behind the desk with Draco's wand in one wand and his own in the other.

"Hi." Potter said, smiling.

Draco looked at him through narrowed eyes. He walked to the desk, extending his hand, palm up.

"I'm not done yet." Potter said.

Draco folded his arms, waiting for him to complete whatever it is he had to do. Potter ran his own wand in an up and down motion over Draco's. He did it many times before Draco spoke.

"I know how this works, Potter. Checking a wand doesn't take this long. So stop trying to delay and give me my wand." 

Potter look startled at being caught but nevertheless placed the hawthorn wand in Draco's outstretched hand.

"Malfoy----" Potter began but didn't get a chance to complete the sentence.

"I'm not interested in listening to anything you have to say." he said, walking towards the door.

"Draco! Please....."

Draco didn't know what made him stop, Potter calling him by his given name or Potter pleading. Whatever it was, he stopped walking but didn't turn around.

"Draco.....I....you know....what happened yesterday.....well.....you see....."

 Potter went on blabbering in broken sentences and unable to take it any longer, Draco turned around fixing him with the Malfoy glare.

" ** _WHAT_** do you want to say?" Draco snapped.

"Sorry!" Potter blurted out.

Draco raised an eyebrow, surprised and waited for him to continue.

"I want to say I'm sorry for what I said yesterday." Potter spoke slowly. "I was angry.... I know that's no excuse and I know you have the liberty to do anything you want but don't you think that man is a little too old for you?"  

As he was talking, Potter kept shooting him nervous glances. Rolling his eyes Draco opened his mouth to say that he wasn't in a relationship with that stupid old codger, but Potter cut in.

"Alright! Alright! I'm not saying anything against him! You can date anyone you like. I don't have any problem with it." he said, raising his hands in a spirit of surrender.

 _"Potter, I'm. not. in. any. relationship."_ Draco said, stressing each word.

For some reason, Potter's face expressed relief before quickly morphing into confusion.

"Then why did you....Then what were you doing in the loo with him?" he asked.

"He was forcing me, okay? Now if you're done, I'd like to leave." Draco said hastily.

" **WHAT?!"** Potter looked like he had just seen a ghost. If it wasn't for the situation, Draco would have started laughing looking at his expression. "Draco, don't tell me---"

"It is exactly what you are thinking." Draco confirmed.

"That _bloody asswipe!!_ Why didn't you tell me?!!" Potter was still horrified, his eyes bulging from the sockets.

"Did you give me a chance to explain anything at all? I was about to thank you, you know, before you started accusing me for everything that happened." Draco blamed him.

"I'm so sorry! I really didn't know... I should've realised...."

"I don't have time for this, Potter. I will be going then."

"Someone tried to rape you, Draco! How can you take it so lightly?!"

"Nothing actually happened, Potter...Thanks to you. So there's no point in making an issue out of this."

"I don't believe this! Are you the same Draco Malfoy who used to throw such huge tantrums and complained to his father for every silly little thing? Where is the Malfoy who grumbled about everything and wouldn't rest until he had gotten revenge?!!"

"It might have slipped your notice but my father isn't here anymore. But to answer your question- no, I'm not the same Draco Malfoy." Draco shrugged.

They both stayed quiet for a minute lost in their own thoughts.

"I don't think I could ever be." Draco whispered in a more serious tone and walked out of the office, leaving Harry even more confused.

 

********************

 

It had been two weeks since that conversation with Potter. He had gone back to Graham to get the money. Graham had not been there but he had instructed one of his men to give Draco the money, for which he was glad. Thank Merlin for small mercies.

The money was already paid at St. Mungo's and Scorp's sessions have been going well. They haven't detected anything yet but atleast something was better than nothing. Everything was as normal as it could be.

He hadn't seen Potter after that. His work life was fine. He left Scorp at Granger's house every evening, went back in the morning and had breakfast there (Granger never let him go without eating), got back home, played with his son, slept in the afternoon, then went back to work again.

Scorpius had three meals a day. His breakfast and dinner were at Granger's place and Claire had been kind enough to offer him lunch and Draco had grudgingly accepted for his son....so that was alright. Claire always asked Draco to eat as well but he never did. He knew that Claire's meagre earnings were only enough for her own food and rent and he didn't want to be a burden. Besides, he could survive with breakfast alone. His own deadline for paying the rent was looming close and he had no idea what he was going to do.

His clients were okay too....not as brutal as Cole. Speaking of which, he hadn't seen Cole after that fateful day. He wondered what had happened of him. Draco strongly suspected that Potter had done something terrible to him and he half-wished it was true........he just hoped Potter hadn't done something as disastrous as killing him. He knew Potter wasn't capable of gory murder but from the fury he had seen on his face the other day, he didn't know what to believe.

He was in the shower at the moment, scrubbing his skin raw again. It had become a daily routine. Every morning when he got back home, he took very long showers, trying to wash away the taint of the previous night. As days went by, he sometimes got a feeling that the filth was gradually becoming a permanent part of him....no matter how much he might wash, he will never be clean again. He always tried to suppress such emotions. He knew he will never be able to go back if he encouraged these thoughts. So he quelled such feelings and tried not to think of them.....but a part of him was sure that it was slowly turning out to be true.....

 

*********************

It was seven in the evening and Harry was at the ministry, poring over files, trying to find anything at all which will help him in Bradshaw's case. His assistant was on leave and Ron had already left to go home....Hermione had asked him to be home early and both Harry and Ron have learnt not to take Hermione's words lightly. Sighing, he went back to the files again.

A certain someone named Dal Kenzie had been missing for three months and his body was found outside his own cottage about three weeks ago.....The murderer had not been found yet.

There had been an attack at a small muggle clothing store, magic had been used and there was a suspected robbery....though the aurors weren't sure if really anything was stolen because all the workers there had been _confunded_ and they don't seem to keep track of their goods.

And now, Ollivander had complained that he had been  getting letters threatening his life.

Harry had an inkling that these cases were somehow linked. Edmund Bradshaw had been  suspected of the robbery but he was cleared of all charges under veritaserum and it was confirmed that his wand hadn't performed any _confundus charm_.....but to Harry, the man had looked suspicious. So he hadn't closed the case and had appointed a few aurors to trail him....but they always lost him and he was later found in his own home. This made Harry all the more doubtful that something was not right with Bradshaw.

He was still immersed in his files when the floo chimed. He looked up to see Draco's face in the hearth. Harry broke into a broad smile. He had wanted to see Draco again so many times in the past two weeks but couldn't pluck up the courage to go there. Harry couldn't forget the grey robes that had adorned him the last time he saw Draco. Wizard robes suited him much better compared to muggle clothes. He had looked really smart, Harry thought.

Harry had been regularly asking Hermione about Draco which led to her wearing that all-knowing smirk before she could reply with 'He's fine.' As days went by, Hermione had started talking very fondly of Draco and even Ron seemed to be getting along.

"Hi, Draco!" Harry greeted, walking over to the fireplace and kneeling in front of the fire.

But Draco didn't look happy. Even through the different shades of red playing over his face, Harry could see that Draco was frantic.

"Potter, it's an emergency." he said, his voice constricting.

Harry tensed. Those four words were enough to set Harry into action. He quickly stood up, lurching to grab the floo powder.

"I'm coming over." he announced and was almost inside the fireplace before Draco can pull his head out. He flooed to Malfoy's flat and what he saw made his stomach sink to the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER  10**

Scorpius was convulsing on the floor, frothing at the mouth, muscles stiff, hardly breathing. Harry was eerily reminded of Ron, when he was poisoned in sixth year. The child was totally rigid, his teeth clenched and eyes rolling back in the skull.

 It was a seizure.

A panic-stricken Draco was kneeling by Scorp, trying to hold him down as Scorpius continued to writhe on the floor.

"P..Potter, d..d..do s..something!" Draco's voice was desperate. He was shaking almost as badly as the tremors racking Scorp's body.

Harry kneeled down on the other side of Scorp, trying to turn him to one side, so he doesn't choke on the saliva.

And then Scorp went limp, his eyelids drooping shut. Panicking, Harry quickly checked for a pulse and was relieved to find one.

"We have to take him to the hospital." Harry said in an unsteady tone. Draco looked up with wide eyes as though he just remembered that there was something called hospital....maybe he really did.

He nodded his head vigorously "Yes..yes, hospital, yes." he kept repeating. Draco tried to carry Scorp but his hands didn't seem to co-operate, shaking just as badly as before.

Scorp had stopped breathing altogether. There was no more time to waste. Without warning, Harry quickly apparated Draco and Scorpius to Mungo's with a lurch.

*****************

They landed in the lobby and the sudden apparition tugged Draco down to the floor. Everything that happened after that was a big hazy blur to Draco. He just remembered mediwitches and healers rushing past him, shouts and hasty orders for different medical equipments, someone pushing past him which knocked him down again. Someone was shouting at him to move out of the way and the same someone had pulled him up from the floor. He could make out Potter's voice somewhere among the chaos  but it was like Potter was talking from some faraway place and Draco couldn't distinguish the words.

When he came to his senses, he found himself standing in the middle of the same waiting room from before. He didn't even know how he got there or how long he's been standing there. He walked to one corner on shaky legs and sat down on the ground, knees drawn up tightly against the chest and arms wrapped around them. He knew he should go and find out how Scorp was but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He didn't want to know what had happened. What if it was some bad news? No. He can't hear something like that. As long as he was here, he could pretend everything was alright. Nothing was wrong with him. Everything was fine and under control......But he didn't know how long he would be able to fool himself.

**************************

Harry was standing outside Scorp's room, leaning against the opposite wall, fidgeting with the hem of his sleeve. The healers had told him there was absolutely no hope. But Harry didn't believe that. There was always hope.

According to the healers, the monitor sessions had been going well, they had been pretty sure that nothing abnormal would happen without their knowledge. So now this seizure was totally out of the blue. The healers had said it is quite inconceivable for them to grasp. They had been confident with the progress of their sessions and had not expected such an untoward incident.

In Harry's opinion, it was a lot more than an _'untoward incident'_.

 _Scorp was in a coma_.

This news had been a huge blow for Harry and he had stood motionless for sometime when he had heard it from Healer Allen. The rest of the words were drowned out until Allen had shaken him out of his reverie. That was the reason why he hadn't gone to see Draco in the waiting room.

Draco had not been himself from the time they had apparated to the hospital. Harry had screamed for help, the healers had come bustling to serve the Chosen One, it was utter chaos until the healers had stabilised Scorp enough to move him to the ward. All the while, Draco had just stood there, staring into space. His face had been expressionless which scared Harry more than the desperation and panic he had seen before. He was being jostled around for he was still in the middle of the lobby and Harry had then pulled him to his feet and led him to the waiting room. He had just followed like a victim of a dementor's kiss, whose soul had just been sucked out. Then Harry had left him there and had not yet gone back to check on him.

He couldn't pluck up the courage to face Draco now. If Harry himself was finding it so hard to accept Scorp's condition, he didn't want to imagine what it would do to Draco, especially after what he had just witnessed of him. It will break him, he knew. Draco loved his son immensely. He was too dear, too precious to him. The only one who was left of Draco's family.

No, he cannot do that to him, he cannot tell him. He cannot be the one to cause such suffering to someone who had already lost so much in life. But he cannot just stand here and **not** do anything either. Scorp's life was slowly dwindling. The healers had said they didn't know any way to bring him _out_ of the coma. That was expected. Unless and until they reach the root of the problem, they cannot do anything to solve it.

Fuck! Harry scrubbed at his face. He _needed_ to do something. There was only one person he could think of whom he could approach when everything else had failed.

**********************

Harry apparated right in the middle of a make out session on the living room floor of The Maple Apartments.

"There's a reason houses have bedrooms you know..." he said casually, throwing them a blanket from the couch to shield his friends' private parts.

"Harry!" Hermione gasped, quickly wrapping the blanket around her, not caring one bit that her husband was still exposed. She hastily retreated to her bedroom.

In a desperate attempt to hide, Ron jumped atop the couch and tumbled headfirst to ground.

"Ouch!" he groaned. Atleast he was now shielded by the couch.

Hermione re-emerged from her room in mere moments, fully dressed and not a hair out of place like she had been there all the while and not just moaning in pleasure right there on the rug a minute ago.

"And there's a reason I closed the floo tonight." she said stubbornly, folding her arms. "You could have sent an owl you know."

"I'm sorry, Hermione, but it couldn't wait." And he hurriedly told her everything that's going on.

"Oh my God!" Hermione exclaimed with a gasp, trembling hands shooting up to cover her mouth.

She walked over to him and gave him a comforting hug and Harry felt some of his worries ebb away. This is why he loved Hermione.

"Could you do anything at all, Mione? I know you're not a healer.....but you always put things right, and I didn't know what else to do.....I hope it won't be too much of a bother...." his voice trailed off.

"Don't be stupid, mate. Hermione would love an excuse to go to the library." Ron said from behind the couch, his head peeking from the top.

"Shut up, Ron." Hermione said exasperatedly. "Of course it wouldn't be a bother, Harry. I love Scorp as much as you do and I won't let anything happen to him. I'll contact Professor McGonagall first thing tomorrow for access to Hogwarts library and I will need to use Grimmauld Place's library as well, there are a lot of books there which are centuries old. They might have something of importance." she cocked her head at Harry in question and Harry nodded.

"Anything, Mione. Just please do something for Scorp.....Draco will not be able to bear it, Mione. He will be devastated." Harry implored.

Hermione smiled sadly and gave him another hug. She knew Harry was really worried. Worried not just for Scorpius, but Draco too. But she didn't want to give him any false hopes. Afterall, Hermione hadn't a clue what was wrong with Scorpius. What could be that terrible to put a **one year** **old's** life in danger? After spending so much time with Scorp, she had started to care for him as her own.  It would be truly traumatizing for all of them to lose that lovely child. And what about Draco? She knew Scorp is his only lifeline......

"I'll try my best, Harry....Now go! Draco shouldn't be left alone. I'll be in Grimmauld Place." she said, giving Harry a shove. " Take care of Rose, Ron." she told Ron and he nodded seriously.

"Ron, mate?" Harry called, turning towards his best friend, trying to lighten the mood slightly. "You don't have to hide behind the couch, you know. It's not anything I haven't seen before." Harry smirked and disapparated, narrowly missing the cushion Ron had thrown his way.

**********************

Harry knew he didn't have anymore excuses to stay away from the waiting room.  And Hermione was right, it wasn't good to leave Draco alone. So he made his way to the waiting room and was quite surprised to not find Draco there. He was about to turn away when he caught a glimpse of something in his peripheral vision. The unmistakable platinum blond hair that could only belong to one person.

He found Draco curled in a corner of the room, knees bent, head bowed resting atop them and arms crossed, supporting the head. If you didn't look closely, the room appeared to be empty.

Harry slowly approached the crouched form and sat down beside him. He contemplated what to do and then slowly laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Draco?" Harry called and Draco lifted his head to peer at him. He looked so despondent and desolate but nonetheless nodded his head at Harry in greeting.

"Potter." he said.

Seeing Draco wasn't behaving in the same upsetting manner as before, Harry released a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding.

Neither of them spoke for a long time, an uncomfortable silence pressing in on them from all sides. It was too quiet and Harry was finding it disturbing. In an attempt to break the silence he asked,

"Are you okay?" and then mentally smacked himself upside the head for asking such a stupid question. Of course he wasn't okay!

Draco shot him a nasty glare and Harry quickly muttered "Sorry."

Again there was silence surrounding them. They sat like that until Harry spoke again.

"Everything is going to be fine, you know. The healers had said it is nothing serious. Scorp is okay, you don't have to worry." Harry said, without meeting Draco's eyes.

 The words sounded false and empty to Harry's own ears. He had desperately wanted to reassure Draco even if that meant lying through his own teeth.

Draco gave him a long look.

"Stop lying, Potter....I already know." Draco said, trying but failing miserably to keep his voice from quivering.

 _Oh no!_ thought Harry. He wasn't sure whether Draco already knowing about it was good or bad. Atleast it meant Harry didn't have to go through the ordeal of telling him. But who had told him?

"Allen?" asked Harry.

Draco nodded.

 

Draco could feel his eyes stinging and he quickly blinked to get rid of the burning. He won't cry. Especially not here. Not when Potter was just sitting not two feet away. Draco still hadn't forgotten that embarrassing night when he had cried all over Potter like some damsel in distress who had needed saving. He was fed up of Potter always finding him in miserable situations where he could hardly control his emotions. Why did it always have to be _Potter?!!_

And Malfoys weren't allowed to show emotion. So he quickly tried to compose himself and hide behind the familiar cold mask he had perfected over the years....and failed miserably yet again. When one's _child_ was dying, no father can stay calm.... family rules be damned!

He had been trying to shut down his feelings for the past hour and had been doing well until Harry bloody Potter had to come along and ruin everything! He didn't even know what had possessed him to contact Potter of all people.

 

Harry could clearly see that Draco was having difficulties to stay collected and he contemplated fleeing, just to give Draco some time to compose himself.

 _'You're such an idiot, Harry. Now is not the time to leave him alone. Try to comfort him.'_ said a voice in Harry's head which sounded very much like Hermione's.

Harry hesitantly wrapped a hand across Draco's shoulders, subconsciously pulling him close.

 

Draco leaned into the touch before he could fully comprehend what he had done. When he did, he decided to push Potter off.....but he didn't really want to. Until now, he hadn't realised how lonely he had been all along. The one-armed hug (if you could call it that) had actually helped him  calm down. This comfort, this feeling of someone being there for you was what he had really needed, he realised, shocking himself. It meant he wasn't alone in this, there was someone to succor him.

Even if that someone didn't know how much this awkward hug had meant to Draco, he didn't mind. Even if that someone didn't realise how much it had reassured Draco, he didn't mind. Even if that someone was Potter, he---........yeah, he didn't mind, thought Draco, shocked by his own thoughts.

Swallowing his ego, he laid his head on Potter's shoulder, snuggling close. Just to maintain a modicum of dignity, he said,

"Breathe a word about this to anyone and I will hex your balls off and feed it to the street dog."

Potter snickered. "I don't plan to. Why will I want the world to know THE Draco Malfoy is a huge cuddler..?"

"Oh shut up, Potter." Draco said halfheartedly.

They sat in silence in the same position. Harry leaning against the wall with one hand around Draco and Draco snuggled by his side. Harry realised that this silence unlike before, wasn't awkward at all. Draco seemed at ease. Though Harry wasn't sure because he can't see his face. He maybe silently crying for all Harry knew. Hermione always said that he was crap at recognising people's reactions.

"Scorp will definitely fight whatever it is, you know. He won't let anything happen to himself." Harry said, trying to stop Draco from brooding.

"I'm sure." said Draco absently.

"That will make him a Gryffindor, don't you think?" Harry asked, attempting to steer Draco's thoughts to a more promising territory. Draco lifted his head from its resting place and gave Harry a mock horrified expression.

"Not bloody likely, Potter. My son will be a proud Slytherin." said Draco, with an air of confidence.

"Oh please! You are talking as though Slytherins are _better_ than Gryffindors." said Harry with equal confidence, happy to have diverted Draco to a more favourable topic.

"That's because they are." said Draco haughtily,

"Don't fool yourself, Malfoy. You and I both know that your team always lost in quidditch when it played against Gryffindor" lips twitching, Harry quirked an eyebrow, trying to imitate Draco.

" And you and I both know that you always won because you had a faster broom."

"What crap! I would have won even if I didn't have the firebolt."

"Oh really? How about I challenge you to a game of seekers then?"  Draco smirked.

"I don't have to prove anything to you."

"Just accept it, Potter. You know you will lose."

"You wish, Malfoy."

"Scared, Potter?"

"Of course not....hang on, shouldn't that have been said backwards?" Harry lifted his eyebrow again.

Draco chuckled.

Harry was glad he had succeeded to distract Draco from his depressing thoughts. Draco then laid his head back on Harry's shoulder. After some time,

"Potter?" Draco called.

"Hmm?"

"I know what you just did...Thanks....for everything."

"Don't mention it." Harry smiled. Trust Malfoy to detect even a distraction attempt.

"And Potter?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't try to mimic my eyebrow lift. You are pathetic at it. Not to mention, it takes years of practice to get it right." Draco grinned evilly.

"Git." said Harry.

"Prat." Draco retorted.

"Wanker."

"Twit."

And they continued like this late into the night.

 

*************************

 

_The energising charm is a good way to treat patients suffering from Narcolepsy which will help them wake up from this long term sleeping disorder. This disease is not a terminal ailment and can be very easily treated as it-------_

Hermione snapped the book shut. The sun was rising, flooding the library with different shades of blue and violet. She walked to the window and looked out.

The sky was a mixture of violent purple and dark grey, easing out into a more peaceful light blue. The sun looked beautiful, peeping through the clouds, ready to resume its ever watchful gaze on the mysteries of the world.

She sighed. She was tired from poring over books the whole night. It had been a very long time since she had pulled an all-nighter. Her neck and back were stiff from bending over books and she wanted to soak in a nice hot bath to alleviate the pain.

She was already done with _A Wizard's guide to Medicine, Are you really Sick? , The More Complex Magical Ailments, Treatments and Cures_ and.... _Disease or Decease?_ The last one was the dumbest book she had ever read.

She hadn't found even a single sentence in any of these books which will shed some light on Scorp's problem. There had been diseases with symptoms of internal bleeding or seizure or coma, but all of these symptoms were for separate ailments. There was just no way Scorpius could have contracted all of them at once.

She had known it wouldn't be easy to get to the core of the problem when she had agreed to do this. It will take time, she knew, but what was annoying her was the feeling of missing something crucial. There was this nagging thing in her brain telling her that she had left out something very obvious, something which is right in front of her.

Sighing again, she went back to her table which she had set up facing the medical section of the library, the chair leaning against the row of shelves holding books on Dark Arts. There were a lot of those as expected. Eventhough the Black family hadn't been outright Voldemort supporters, they had had their fair share of knowledge of anything related to dark arts. The very shelf behind her was proof of that.

 She rocked her chair back and forth, accidently knocking a book down from the Dark Arts section behind her. It landed open on the floor and she picked it up and peered at it. But before she could read anything, the book started bleeding, blood oozing out from the pages. It reminded her too much of Tom Riddle's Diary and she quickly shut it and shoved it back in its place, moving her chair away from the shelf.

She decided to take a break. She will check on Rose and then visit Scorp before coming back here to continue her research. She will also have to send an owl to Professor McGonagall and borrow Scorp's case files from the hospital. But first she needed a bath.

Sorting all the books scattered on the table, she left the library, closing the door behind her.

The book was still bleeding, blood dripping to the floor and making a small puddle by Hermione's chair.

 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been a month since I last updated. I'm sorry for the delay, but life is hectic and I might not be frequent in updates from now on......To all those who commented, Thank you!!...I didn't have time to individually reply,sorry again. So here you go, chapter 11 is up. Read and review. :)

**CHAPTER  11**

"Rose! Stop running!" Ron screamed for the umpteenth time.

He had been running around the house like some insane dog for the past hour and had not even managed to give Rose a proper bath yet. The breakfast was already burnt. Actually, _burnt_ wasn't an apt word. It was totally _inedible_. The eggs had turned to rubber and the toast was almost ash. This had happened because he had decided to wake Rose up until breakfast was cooking, which turned out to be the biggest mistake he could make that morning.

From the time she was up, she had untiringly circled the house, knocking down stuff left, right and centre. Ron had been trying to catch her and had slid on the skateboard she had laid out in the middle of the room, bringing the dining table crashing to the floor. What a three-year-old needed a skateboard for, was beyond him. Surely Harry would have gotten it for her. He's dead set on spoiling his goddaughter.

Ron had managed to hold her long enough to take her to the bath before she slipped through his fingers and ran out from there too, thanks to the soap.

"Not again!" Ron yelled from the top of the stairs, as Rose happily ran down with a "WHEEEEEEEE...."

"Rose, this is the last warning, if you don't stop right now, you're going to regret it!"

But a three year old would obviously pay no mind to such threats.

Ron had had enough. He jumped down the railing (he wasn't an auror for nothing), just as Rose reached the bottom of the stairs and caught her round the middle.

"Gotcha!" he exclaimed happily. He whispered a spell to conjure hand cuffs, the same spell used to handcuff potential criminals, only these cuffs were tiny and made of soft pink cloth.

"And now, I'm not letting you go!" he exclaimed, grinning at his daughter.

Rose looked at him with a pout on her lips and Ron started tickling her.

Father and daughter were literally rolling on the floor and laughing when Hermione entered the house. She was shocked to a standstill when she looked around to find the place a mess. Everything was scattered around the living room, the dining table was kissing the floor, kitchen was stinking of burnt food and she found Ron and Rose rolling around happily in the hallway.

She wanted to yell at them for turning the whole house upside down but when she saw the father and daughter happily spending some quality time together, she couldn't bring herself to get angry.

"Daddy! Untie me!" she giggled.

"When did you learn the word 'untie', you naughty girl?" Ron asked playfully.

" That would be my doing." said Hermione, with her hands on her hips. "And whose doing is this?" she asked, sweeping her hand in a semi-circular gesture indicating the whole house.

"Daddy!!" Rose chirped up joyfully.

"What?!" Ron exclaimed, staring accusingly at Rose. "Don't you lie, little devil."

Ron and Rose went on arguing about who had messed the house. Rose accused Ron of breaking the dining table, while Ron complained about the skateboard artfully placed in the middle of the room.

Hermione's lips twitched. She quickly composed her face to keep up pretences.

"Enough! The both of you." she said exasperatedly, pulling Rose onto her hip. "Now go and get cleaned. Let me handle this."

Ron sighed in relief. "Hermione, you're a life-saver. I will never complain about anything you do ever again." he gave her a grin.

"We'll see how long _that_ lasts." she muttered under her breath while rolling her eyes.

 

****************

When Ron came down after showering, the house was back to its original state and Hermione seemed to be in Rose's room. Probably cleaning her up.

He quickly prepared some bangers and mash with a side of peas. Brewed two cups of hot coffee. Fried up two eggs and cut them using a heart shaped mold  Hermione used for baking cake. He set the table and had just laid out a flower beside Hermione's plate when she came into the kitchen carrying their daughter.

She put Rose in her high chair before she noticed the whole set-up. She turned towards Ron with a raised brow.

"Someone seems very romantic today." she said in a sing song voice.

"Just a small way of saying thank you to my wife for everything she's done." Ron said, coming round the table and twirling Hermione, before picking up the flower and carefully pinning it to her head.

Hermione brought his head down and kissed him full on the mouth. When they separated, both were sporting goofy grins on their faces.

They began eating while Rose played with her breakfast and pushed the milk glass to the floor. Ron cleaned it up with a flick of his wand.

"You know, I don't feel like cutting this heart omelette." Hermione said.

"You can just shove the whole thing in your mouth." Ron supplied.

Hermione gave him a flat look before stabbing the omelette viciously with a fork.

"Ouch!" Ron exclaimed and they both started laughing.

 

******************

"Aren't you coming?" Ron poked his head into the study to find Hermione writing a letter."

"No, I've taken a few weeks off until I figure this out. I need to help Scorp." she said, not pausing in her writing.

Ron strode in fully dressed in his auror robes. Hermione loved seeing her husband in those robes. He looked smart. _And sexy,_ her mind supplied. She smirked inwardly.

"Did you find anything last night at Grimmauld?" Ron asked.

"No, nothing." she said. "I'll just send this owl to McGonagall and then I'm going to the hospital to check on Scorp. If I get a reply early, I'll head to Hogwarts Library, so I might be late."

"I would have helped you but you know I'm no good when it comes to books right?"

"Well, you're good at _other_ stuff." Hermione smiled mischievously.

"Have something on your mind, darling?" Ron grinned.

"Oh my God, Ron! I meant you're good at things like _auror_ stuff. You always draw the wrong conclusion." she looked down at her parchment to cover her own grin. They both knew what she had meant.

"Oh really?"

"Yes, really. Now move your ass and head to work before you're late." she said.

"Alright, I left Rose at mum's. Take care." he said, kissing her temple and left the house.

Hermione signed her name and sent the letter before putting on her jacket and leaving the house.

********************

When she entered the waiting room in St. Mungo's, her eyes grew wide at the scene in front of her. Harry and Draco were snuggled together in one corner of the room. Draco had his head on Harry's chest and Harry was resting his chin on Draco's head. Their arms were wrapped around each other, legs entwined and both were fast asleep. She felt like she was intruding on a private moment.

They looked so cute together and she smiled. She didn't have the heart to wake them up but if someone else saw them like this, the prophet will get wind of it, and then there was no telling what will happen. The prophet is known to dish out rumours and tittle tattles. So she kneeled down and woke them up simultaneously by poking their cheeks with her finger.

**************

Harry opened his eyes and as soon as he did that, he was lost in a sea of stormy grey. The eyes were beautiful. The pupils blown wide, the grey was streaked with a tinge of blue which reminded him of the reflection of the sky on the vast ocean on a rainy day. The eyes weren't a boring grey, they were almost metallic silver, the lustrous colour of diamond. He felt like he could stare into them for eternity.

The first thing Draco noticed when he woke up was that he was really close to Potter's face. He knew he should move away, but eventhough some part of his mind was asking him to do just that, another part, a rather large part of his mind didn't want to. Because Potter looked adorable. His hair mussed, untidier than ever, but Draco somehow knew the strands will be soft to touch. His eyes were like a deep evergreen forest. They were staring into him with such intensity that he felt exposed, vulnerable to the gaze. He glanced lower and stopped at the pale pink lips. The luscious, full lips were slightly parted and they were so close. Draco had a sudden mad urge to kiss them.

He unconsciously leaned forward and noticed Potter moving forward too. They were so close. Just another centimetre, a little bit more, closer, closer......a cough sounded and realisation dawned on them.

They became aware of their positions, hands and legs wrapped around each other and they jumped apart like they were electrocuted. Their faces were burning with embarrassment, a blush rising and going all the way down their necks. They didn't meet each other's eyes, staring at the floor, awkwardly trying to smoothen their clothes and hair.

"Hello boys." Hermione greeted cheerily. She had seen what was about to transpire and eventhough it would have been truly amazing to watch something like that, Hermione was still Hermione and she had her own set of ethics for herself, so obviously she cannot let herself invade their privacy.

"I came here to borrow Scorp's files. I wanted to see him too, but they wouldn't allow me in. Said he can't have visitors yet."  Hermione said.

At the mention of Scorp, both Harry and Draco looked up.

Hermione turned her attention to Harry. "I got permission to use Hogwarts Library, Harry. So I'm going there now. I might want to use the Grimmauld Place's Library too, so keep the floo open."

"Sure, but did you find anything that might help Scorp?" Harry asked.

"Nothing yet, it's----"

"Wait a minute, is someone going to tell me what's going on?" Draco interjected.

"Hermione is trying to find what is causing Scorpius' coma.... and possibly a cure." Harry said.

"Oh! Why is it no one told me about this?" Draco asked.

Harry opened his mouth to reply but Draco cut in.

"Nevermind. I'm coming with you, Granger." Draco said determinedly.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. As they say, two minds are better than one. We'll be able to work quicker."

"Okay. Bye Harry." and Hermione left, followed closely by Draco who didn't even turn around to acknowledge his presence. It was like last night never happened. They were entangled in each other's arms and as if that wasn't enough, mere minutes ago they were about to kiss, yes, Harry was pretty sure it wasn't just him. Draco was about to kiss him too, and then he walks off like nothing ever happened. Like they were still sworn enemies.....but they aren't exactly friends either. So what the hell were they?

The way Harry felt this morning and the near kiss was enough to assure him that he was indeed attracted to the blond git, but that doesn't necessarily mean Draco must like him back right?

 _My mind is just playing tricks on me, showing me what I want to see. Draco wasn't about to kiss me, it was just me and now I'll have to contain this stupid attraction until it wanes. But what if---- No. No, Harry. His son is dying, so stop acting like an idiot. Just because your brain is stupid enough to develop a crush on their childhood rival, don't expect everyone to be stupid. He was your **archenemy**_ for years _. No one just forgets something like that, no matter how buddy buddy you become. And he doesn't even consider you a **friend**. So don't harbour false hopes and concentrate on Scorp._

Harry pulled himself up from the ground. His leg was cramped, being in the same position the whole night. He limped to Scorp's room and peered in through the glass window. Scorpius was lying in a small bed, motionless. Various equipments were surrounding him and there was some faint light glowing atop him monitoring his status.

Harry's heart broke a little. The kid was just a year old. No child should have to suffer like this. He hadn't even seen the world yet, had said not more than two words. It wasn't his age to die. A tear unknowingly slipped and rolled down his cheek. Harry dabbed at it with the heel of his hand and turned away from the window. He needed coffee. He was already late for work, might as well fill his system with some caffeine.

**************

Hermione could see that Draco wasn't actually concentrating the way he should be. It was only natural, after all it was his son, but this had gone on for too long and she didn't like him being so distracted.

"Draco?" she called. This was the third time. "You are doing it again."

Draco had been staring at the same page yet again, lost in his own thoughts.

"Oh, sorry...again."

"I understand, Draco. It's not really your fault that you aren't able to concentrate, so if you are so worried about Scorpius, you should go back to Mungo's."

"What?" Draco looked confused for a moment before his eyes cleared in understanding. "No no, I'm fine. I'll stay. I promise I won't drift off again."

Hermione nodded and went back to her book.

The library was empty as students were still in classes. So this was the perfect time to use the library as much as they can, without any interruption or disturbance. But Draco was finding it hard to focus. It wasn't what Granger was thinking. Yes, he was worried for his son. Really, really worried. But right now his thoughts were occupied with Potter.

Last night.....he loathed himself to admit it, but he had really slept well in Potter's arms. He had felt like a kid again, when his mother used to cuddle him after a nightmare and he would no longer be afraid. The same thing had happened again. With Potter, he had felt like everything happening in his life was just a nightmare, and at that moment he had relaxed enough to forget all about his problems. He had felt so safe and all his worries had ebbed away. It had been so long since he felt anything remotely like it.

Now he was too scared to even contemplate why it had happened. Why did Potter make him feel so safe, so calm, so serene? Deep down he knew the answer to that question, but he'll never admit it, not even to himself. And that almost kiss? Was he that far gone that he was ready to kiss him? He knew he was the one to initiate it.....or maybe it was just some weird way his brain had come up with to show gratefulness to Potter?

Draco sighed. This was getting too out of hand. He cannot afford to complicate things now. His main concern was Scorpius, so anything he felt towards Potter will have to be locked away. Not just for now, he couldn't ever bring it up. So he shoved up all his thoughts at the back of his mind and began _actually_ reading the page he had been staring at for half an hour.

*******************

 

Harry casually strode into the MLE, with his third coffee cup in hand to find that most of its members were missing. Robards came bustling out of his office and Harry rushed after him.

"Sir! Sir, wait!"

"Nice of you to join us, Auror Potter." Robards mouth twisted into a sneer. His secretary was handing him some file which he quickly signed before snapping at her to go back to her work and not irritate him with anymore files at the moment.

"...Don't you understand now's not the time?!" he glowered at the girl and she backed away.

"Sir, what's going on?" Harry asked hurriedly, walking fast to keep up with Robards.

"There's a commotion in Diagon Alley. We got a floo call from Ollivander asking us for help, as some people with masks and cloaks had turned up at his shop. The call was abruptly disconnected. A few of our aurors went there, but it turned out that they were outnumbered. Back up was sent immediately and I have been searching for you the whole morning! Where the hell were you?" Robards barked at him.

"Oh..I..was..." he made a vague gesture, trying to hide his coffee. It was abruptly grabbed and thrown into the bin.

"My coffee!"

"GO TO DIAGON, POTTER! NOW!" Robards screamed.

"Yes, sir!" and Harry made a beeline to the door, away from Robards as fast as he can. He apparated into Ollivander's shop to find various aurors battling.......death eaters. Harry's mouth dropped open. They were the same cloaks and masks. But how was that possible?! Death eaters were in Azkaban.

"Harry! Help me out here please!" Ron yelled from across the room. He was firing jinxes like crazy, handling two cloaked figures at once.

Harry quickly got down to business, brandishing his wand and taking down death eaters quite efficiently. He was really proud of his skills as an auror. Duelling came easily to him. He had just knocked another death eater unconscious when he noticed someone escaping through the back door.

He looked around. The other aurors were handling the situation quite well, he won't be needed. So he made his way through the duelling figures, dodging hexes and jinxes and went through the door through which the other man had gone.

It lead to a small alley and Harry could see the man turning right towards the end of the street. Harry ran towards him and when the man saw Harry following him he picked up his pace but Harry was fast. He caught him at the end of Knockturn Alley, trying to hide behind a bin. Seemed like his wand was broken or he would have apparated away.

"Bradshaw?" Harry looked at the man's face in shock. "I knew it! I knew you were up to something!" Harry whooped.

"Now, you better tell me what is going on or I have other ways of wielding it out of you." Harry threatened, pointing his wand at his neck.

" I don't---" Bradshaw began, raising his hands in surrender and Harry cut him off.

"Only the truth, if you will. What have you been trying to do? Who are you working for?"

"Malfoy----" was all Bradshaw managed to say before a green light shot out from somewhere and Bradshaw fell to the ground. He was dead and there was nobody in sight who had cast the Killing curse.

Harry looked around, he ran to the end of the street but there was no one. The street was empty. He tried the _Homenum Revelio_ charm and every other spell he could think of but the alley was indeed deserted.

"Shit!" Harry cursed.

He sent out a patronus to the department to collect the body and went back to Ollivander's  for the third shock of the morning.

All the death eaters were rounded up and either stunned or unconscious. Their masks had been removed by the aurors and every face was the same.

The face of Edmund Bradshaw.

"Polyjuice." Harry whispered and Ron nodded his affirmation.

Harry rubbed his face with his hands. This was a lot more complicated than he had thought. First, he will have to talk to Malfoy.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not getting that many comments....do you ppl want me to continue writing or not???.....comment please!! :P

 

**CHAPTER  12**

 

"There. is. absolutely .nothing. here!!" Hermione stressed each word, while she placed each book on the shelf with more force than required.

Draco fully agreed. They had come to Hogwarts in the morning and now the sky was inky blue dotted with stars from what Draco could see through the window. They had missed lunch and in Draco's case breakfast too. He was feeling too weak, as his last meal had been at Granger's house yesterday. The corned beef sandwich he had had for breakfast.

Madam Pince had been really helpful. She had kept students away from that area of the library that Hermione and Draco had occupied. Having an eye on the students and scolding them if they _'accidently'_ happened to cross either Hermione or Draco.

"How can **HOGWARTS** have nothing?!!" Hermione exclaimed. She came back to the table and placed a huge stack of books on it with a loud bang that echoed throughout the library. Draco wondered how Madam  Pince didn't make an appearance to admonish them.

"I mean, it's **HOGWARTS!!** We always find everything here! It has never disappointed me before!!" Hermione continued ranting in her disbelieving tone.

"Maybe it's just not the right thing you are looking for..."

"Professor McGonagall!" Hermione shrieked, surprised to find her there.

"Evening, Professor." Draco wished her politely.

"Good evening Mr. Malfoy, Mrs. Granger-Weasley." McGonagall nodded at them. "I must say it sounds rather odd to call you that. I think I'll stick with Hermione." she smiled at Hermione.

"Sure, Professor." Hermione smiled back.

"So as I was saying, maybe it's just not the right thing you're looking for, Hermione."

"Um...Professor...I don't actually understand...." Hermione frowned. "I mean we know Scorpius is ill and we are trying to find him a cure......"

"Sometimes when you need to find something, you just need to stop searching for it so frantically. Neither of you lack the percipience or native wit here. I'm sure between your intellectual acuity and Mr. Malfoy's  ingenuity and mental acumen, you both will figure it out." she smiled again, this time there was a glint in her eye, which eerily reminded them of Dumbledore. She then left them with their confused countenance.

Hermione and Draco looked at each other. Draco with a scowl etched on his face and Hermione had her brows furrowed in deep concentration.

"What was all that about?!" Draco blurted out as soon as McGonagall disappeared round the corner. His eyes were fixed on the spot where McGonagall was last seen.

 _"It's not the right thing you're looking for..... Stop searching for it"_ Draco continued in his best impression of Professor McGonagall, adjusting imaginary glasses up his nose.

"Draco?" Hermione still had her brows knitted together.

"...What does she want us to do then? Just sit and watch my son die? I swear to God this woman's gone round the bend in her old age...."

"Draco..."

"...And did you see that twinkle in her eye? I think she's been practicing that famous _Dumbledore-twinkle_  in front of the mirror!..."

"Draco---"

"...Wait a minute! Maybe she's taking lessons from Dumbledore's portrait!! That's just it! Dumbledore has been teaching her how to make her eyes gleam! And that's why her speech is so absurd too!"

"Draco!"

"What?!" Draco looked at Hermione triumphantly, like he just found the answer to some highly cognitive equation.

"Are you quite done yet?"

"Um..maybe. Why?"

"Because I have been trying to tell you that your phone's ringing."

"Oh." Draco looked confused.  He looked at his phone which was buzzing on the table. "OH!" He picked it up. It was Claire.

"Excuse me." He told Hermione and made to move away, but as soon as he took a few steps a dizzy spell hit him. It was the inanition again. He quickly held onto a chair to steady himself until the dizziness passed.

"Are you okay?" Hermione called.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He moved to a nearby window and answered the call.

"Hello."

"Hello, Draco? Graham's livid. He thinks you ran away with the money again!" Claire screamed on the phone.

Graham. Oh my God! He totally forgot about him and his work. Draco checked the time, it was 9 pm. Yesterday he had been about to leave for work when Scorp had started convulsing and today he was two hours late.

"I'm coming. Five minutes." he said and disconnected the call.

Oh no! It has been more than 24 hours since he had last seen his son, and now he had to go to that damn place leaving his research. This research was taking so long too! He wanted it to be over as soon as possible, so that he could get his son back....and going to the brothel now will be a huge distraction and such a waste of time when he could be using all that time to find the cure. But Draco wasn't the one to keep debts pending. He will have to go.

He turned around swiftly to inform Hermione and almost fell face-first on the ground as his vision started spinning. Thankfully Hermione had been right behind him and she caught him before he hit the ground and helped him into a chair.

"I knew you were not okay, that's why I was coming to check on you." she scolded, conjuring a glass with some water and pushing it into his hand.

"Drink up. You look even more pale now. Is it something to do with the call? Can I ask who it was?" she eyed the phone still clutched in his hand.

"It was Claire. I'm late for work." he said while slowly sipping the water. It was cool and nice. A soothing relief to his parched throat. He hadn't realised he'd been thirsty the whole day. He extended his glass for more water and Hermione filled it up.

"For work? I presume you told her you will not be coming?" she asked sarcastically.

"I have to go, Granger. I already missed a day with everything that happened yesterday, I cannot afford to do so again." He tried to stand up but Hermione grabbed him and pushed him into the chair again.

"Are you mad?! Did you see yourself in the mirror? You look terrible!" she said incredulously.

"Thanks." Draco said apathetically.

"You know I didn't mean it that way." she gave him a tight-lipped look.

Draco gave a nonchalant shrug. He stood up and tried to walk away but Hermione caught his hand firmly.

"You are not well, Draco! And with everything that is going on with Scorpius, this is not the time to be going for work! Just shut the hell up and take some time off!"

" Granger, my .... _boss_ is not a very kind person. He won't take it lightly if I miss even a day. So just let me go. I'll be fine. See, I'm already able to stand without falling over." Draco explained with as much patience as he could muster.

Hermione looked at him suspiciously but the grip on Draco's arm loosened. She removed something from her pocket and placed it in his palm. It was a galleon.

"Take this with you." was the only explanation she offered.

"And what is this?"

"It has got the Protean Charm on it." she said. Hermione had upgraded the spell. The galleons now don't just send messages, but they send the person's location as well if he/she was in danger. "Just touch the coin if you need help."

Draco raised an eyebrow and looked at her disbelievingly.

"Listen to me okay!" Hermione said exasperatedly. "I have a very bad feeling about this. My intuition says I shouldn't let you go and my intuitions are usually right. It's a miracle I'm actually letting you walk away from here. So take the coin and don't argue."

Draco pocketed the galleon and left the place swiftly before Hermione changed her mind. When Granger spoke like that, the boys knew never to argue. Draco still remembered the slap he had received from her in third year.

**************

"Any luck, mate?" Ron asked.

Harry shook his head. "They haven't got a clue what they were doing there." he said.

Most of the DMLE had been in the interrogation rooms for the better part of the afternoon, questioning those death eaters who were sporting the guise of Edmund Bradshaw. They were all back to their original faces now as the polyjuice had worn off. The only problem was that each and every one of them had been imperiused.

They were all interrogated using different methods and even Veritaserum was used and it only revealed that they were telling the truth, which overcomplicated things. Their statement had been recorded. They didn't even know when they were kidnapped. A team of aurors had already been sent out to the places from where these _not-death-eaters_ were possibly kidnapped and imperiused. Most of them lived alone so there weren't many missing persons reports. All in all it had been a well thought out plan.

Just yesterday Harry had been reading the complaint filed by Ollivander of the threatening letters he had been getting and today his shop was attacked. Maybe Ollivander can shed some light on this case...though it was highly unlikely he has enemies. Maybe there was some ulterior motive. They first need to find out the motive of whoever was behind this.

And where was the real Edmund Bradshaw? When they had gone looking for him, he was missing. The search party had been notified and were already working on the case. Even his neighbours had no idea about his whereabouts. He had no relatives and according to his neighbours he was a secluded person, hardly ever came out of the house.

The Edmund Bradshaw who had been killed was also another polyjuiced individual. His family had been notified of his death and they blamed the aurors for it.

"I am going to file a case against you in the Wizengamot!!" the lady, who Harry assumed was the wife of _the-killed-fake-Edmund-Bradshaw,_  shrieked at Ron. "It is you people's  fault he died!!" she continued and her shrieks were intensifying Harry's headache.

"Ron, just get her to shut up please." Harry sighed. It must have been too loud because the next second her shrieks turned even more deadly.

"Oh yeah, Mr. Potter? You were there when he was killed, weren't you?! Why didn't you save him!! Just because everyone calls you the saviour, you seem to think too highly of yourself!  You are nothing but--"

Harry tuned her out and left the place. He reached his office and slumped into his chair. He needed a pain relieving potion for his damn headache. There were a pile of files on his desk...oh yeah, the damned paperwork! He had to finish it the same day and submit it to Robards and then go find Draco.

He hadn't said anything about _the-killed-fake-Edmund-Bradshaw_ mentioning Malfoy just before he died. He wanted to enquire Draco himself before he could report it to the DMLE. It seemed like the Imperius had worn off and that is when _the-killed-fake-Edmund-Bradshaw_ had tried to escape but was AK-ed instead. He wanted to question Draco **now,** but if he doesn't want anyone to know, it will have to wait. He sighed and started on the paperwork, resigning himself to a long day.

 

******************

Hermione was immersed in her copy of _Harrison's Manual of Medicine_ when the galleon in her pocket started getting hot, so it took a while for her to actually realise it and by the time she retrieved it, the coin was burning up. She placed it on the table and quickly noted down the apparition coordinates and ran to the front gate of Hogwarts to apparate from there.

She reached the place and gagged at the stench. She had landed in some alleyway which wasn't the best alley by far. She slowly walked into the street. It was a muggle neighbourhood. There were people everywhere and most of them were half dressed. Judging by the shops around and the seductive looks they were casting, these people were more likely to be _Sex workers!_ Hermione thought.

She was in a red light district. What was Draco doing _here?!_

She carefully looked around. How was she supposed to find Draco among all these people? The Protean charm only helped so much.

"LLLLooking for someone?"  came a voice from the side of the street. Hermione turned around and saw she was right in front of what appeared to be a brothel and the voice belonged to a girl in her late twenties who was leaning against the door of the said brothel and was wearing a........ _bikini._ There was no other word for it.

The voice was supposed to be seductive, that is why she had rolled her "L" in "looking", but somehow it alerted Hermione to danger. Definitely not someone you could ask help from.

"Er...No...I was just...Um..." Hermione stammered.

"Seems like it's your first time here. Don't worry, I can help you." she smirked.

"No, no thank you!" Hermione said, looking around, trying to find an escape route.

"Straight or queer?" The girl asked suddenly.

"What?"

"Never mind. We've got excellent male and female escorts. You can come inside and take your pick. She caught Hermione's hand, trying to pull her inside.

"No! I'm not interested!" Hermione tried to pull her hand back while simultaneously trying to retrieve her wand from her sleeve....if only this stupid girl will let go!

"Hermione?"

Hermione turned around and sagged in relief. "Claire! Oh thank God.."

"Leah, how many times do I have to tell you not to interfere in _my_ list of clientele?" Claire turned her attention to the girl.

"And how the hell am I supposed to know she belongs to you? Has she got a tag with your name written on it?" The girl released Hermione and crossed her arms, glaring at Claire.

"Oh I don't have the mood to argue with you right now." Claire snapped and pulled Hermione to the end of the street where there were less people.

"What are you doing here?" Claire asked.

"I...I came in to see Draco." Hermione said reluctantly. Draco was in need of help and Hermione had already wasted so much time. She didn't know how much she can tell Claire, but for now she was the only one who can help.

"Why?" Claire looked at Hermione with narrowed eyes.

"Is that even a question?!" Hermione snapped. She can't afford to waste anymore time.

"Alright, come with me."

Claire took her to another brothel and stopped by the reception.

"Mia, is Draco here?" Claire asked the receptionist.

"Yeah, I think he's free now. His clients just left."

" _Clients?_ You mean more than one?" Claire looked shocked.

"Yeah, all _Graham's men_. I was actually thinking of checking on him...to make sure he's fine. You know how these men can---"

"Which room?" Hermione cut in.

"Excuse me?" Mia asked.

" _WHICH ROOM?!!"_ Hermione asked desperately.

"242...but you can't just----"

But Hermione was already bolting up the stairs before Mia could finish, taking two steps at a time.

"Hermione! Wait! You can't go in there!" Claire was yelling from the bottom of the stairs.

She threw open the door marked 242 and as soon as she did that, the coppery stench of blood hit her.

Draco was lying in the middle of the room with a sheet around him.....in a pool of blood. There was so much blood, Hermione can hardly make out anything else. She ran to him and cradled his head, checking his pulse, it was hardly there.

Draco slowly opened his eyes and groaned. He looked up and smiled faintly.

"H..Hermione..." he whispered.

"Draco! Oh thank God...I thought I lost you!" Hermione held him close.

"Took you... long... enough....to come here." he was finding it very hard to talk.

"I'm so sorry, Draco! I didn't know where to find you...I was---Hey! Hey!" Hermione tapped him on the cheek.

Draco's eyes were almost closed.

"Draco! Stay with me okay? You're gonna be alright! Just stay with me..." Hermione said, panicking and she apparated to Mungo's without further ado.

**********************

_Draco asked permission to use McGonagall's floo and he reached his house. He quickly took a shower and changed his clothes before leaving his flat. By the time he reached Graham's Brothel it was already 9:30._

_"Oh Draco! Graham had been in checking if you had come. He was furious." Mia said._

_"Let him know I'm here." said Draco, walking to the stairs."Which room is empty?"_

_"You can use 242."_

_"Alright, I'll be there."_

_And Draco went up the staircase, on reaching the landing he remembered Hermione's coin. He quickly reached inside his pocket checking if he placed it in there and to his relief it was there in his shirt pocket. He didn't know why, but he felt like atleast for Hermione's peace of mind he will have to keep it safe. He never carried his wand to work....because his nature of work involved getting intimate with his clients and if those people got hold of it, it will become a huge problem._

_He was sitting on the bed of room 242 when the door banged open. Graham walked in with four of his favourites._

_'This can't be good' was the first thought that crossed Draco's mind._

_"Why'd you miss yesterday?" Graham demanded._

_He didn't seem in the mood for chit-chat. Draco knew he couldn't use his flirtatious attitude to calm him down....he was too angry for that._

_"My son is sick." Draco thought it better to just go with the truth._

_"I don't want your excuses, boy and I don't care even if **you** are sick, let alone your son. When I told you you've got to come every day, it means **every day**. Just be thankful I haven't called you in the mornings yet." Graham bit out, his nostrils flaring._

_"Listen, Graham, I'm sorry...it was an emergency, I ----"_

_"I have given you twenty five thousand pounds, Draco. And from what you've already done I can't trust you at all. I need to make sure this won't happen again."_

_He waved his men forward and reached for the door. "Just make sure he doesn't die." was his departing comment._

_"What? Graham! What the hell!"_

_Draco reached for the galleon but it was knocked out of his hand. After that everything that happened was utter chaos._

 

"Draco? Draco!! Wake up! It's a nightmare. You're safe, Draco...Just wake up!"

Draco opened his eyes, panting. _It's a nightmare, a nightmare._ He told himself repeatedly and tried to calm down.

 Someone was standing by his side, holding his hand. He looked up to find Hermione leaning over him with teary eyes.

She helped him sit up and placed pillows behind him to make him comfortable. She placed a glass to his lips and Draco gratefully gulped down the water.

The room was dark. The curtains were closed, faint moonlight filtering through them. He could smell the sterile hospital scent in the air and there were beeping machines beside the bed. _Ok, so St. Mungo's_ he thought.

Hermione was sitting on a chair beside his bed, his palm still clutched tightly in her hand. She looked worried, eyes reflecting concern.

"I'm fine." Draco said, just to ease out her worries.

"No, you're not!" she said in a clipped tone. "The healers had been in. They told me all about the damage your body went through." On saying this, a tear escaped her eye.

"You could have almost died!" she continued. "They had to do an emergency surgery to save you! You are still malnourished. Don't you eat at all? And...and it's not just that." She looked at Draco, tears freely flowing now. "There's evidence of..of s..sexual assault. There were severe injuries by your groin and the healers said it cannot be the work of just one person...."

"Hermione----" Draco began but she put up her hand and Draco stopped talking.

 _"You were beaten raw and brutally raped!!"_ she yelled and then took deep breaths to get a grip on herself.

After sometime she started talking a little calmly, "I remember what I told you in my house that day, Draco, the day Harry found you passed out in the restaurant loo. I said you don't have to tell me anything you don't want to...But this is really serious and I _have_ to know what's going on....."

Draco nodded. He took deep breaths himself. If he was going to do this, he needed to stay composed as well. If he was going to open his heart and tell Hermione the truth, then he needed to collect himself. After a few minutes, or maybe hours he started talking.

"I was sacked from so many muggle shops because I didn't know how to operate their devices...even simple things like the switch baffled me. People didn't have the patience to teach me how to use them. They thought I was behaving like an idiot, naturally.

 It had been another tiring day and after being thrown out of a cafe for having no idea how to operate a coffee machine , I felt terrible. I was walking back home and in my musings, I ended up in Holbeck's red-light district. I live in Holbeck and had had no idea that such a place even existed there until then.

I was lost and was trying to find a way back when I met Claire. She was sweet and agreed to help me find my way home. On the way, we started talking. Surprisingly, she just guessed that I was unemployed and was in great need of a job....though looking at my miserable state, I think even the dumbest person could guess that.

 She suggested joining the sex industry. I was horrified and immediately declined the offer." At this point Draco snorted, his eyes distant...lost in thought. Hermione was holding his hand in a death grip...eventhough she had no idea if she was offering comfort to Draco or to herself.

"I was sure that I will not stoop that low where I will have to sell my body for money, but that night I had no money at all to buy food and Scorpius had to go to bed hungry....So I decided what to do and the next morning I went back to the red-light area, hoping to catch Claire. I found her in the same place she found me the previous night. It was like she knew I'll come back. She is very perceptive and it was this attitude of hers that made me like her and we soon became very good friends.

She took me to Graham, who was the one who ran this business. He gave me the choice between sex industry and drug smuggling...I chose the former. After my time in Azkaban, I didn't want to do anything unauthorised.....and among the many number of Graham's businesses this was the only thing which wasn't illegal. Now that I think about it, maybe I should have taken up something else, even if it was unlawful.....anything would have been better than this. But I was always such a coward."

Draco shook his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts and continued on. "So then I started working. It was awful but it's close to ten months now and I have no idea how I've managed to stay this long....desperation can do that to a person, I think. The problem now is that I borrowed twenty five thousand pounds from Graham for Scorpius' treatment, and made a deal that for two months I will work for him until the debt is paid back. The catch is that I'm not allowed to keep a single pence to myself for these two months and will have to report anytime he calls.

I cannot miss even a day and this..." Draco gestured with his hand, motioning to himself "....is the punishment for being absent yesterday. Graham thinks I might run away with his money again." Draco sighed.

"Again?" Hermione asked.

"Oh yes. We are supposed to pay twenty percent of our earning on each client to Graham, which I didn't do for a month because I was at a shortage of money for Scorp's potions."

"Draco, I---" But before Hermione could finish, she was interrupted.

"No, Hermione. I know what you're going to say and the answer is _no_." Draco said firmly.

"But Draco just let me help you! You're being forced to do something which you absolutely detest....I can't watch you go back to that hell after knowing all this, Draco." Hermione pleaded for him to understand.

"That's how it is, Hermione. Maybe it's just karma, you know the cause and effect concept. I'm just paying for my mistakes."

"That is totally beyond the point! Besides, you've paid plenty, even for things which weren't your fault. Please let me help you! I can talk to Ron and---"

"No, No! Promise me you won't tell anyone about this."

"What? I can't do that! If I have to help you, then I will have to talk---"

"Hermione." Draco said in a tone that suggested that the argument was over.

"I promise." Hermione sighed.

"Thank you." Draco nodded.

They sat in silence for sometime before Draco spoke again.

"Aren't you disgusted?" he asked out of the blue.

"What?"

"Aren't you disgusted with me?" he asked again.

"Why should I be?" Hermione looked at him like he's gone mad.

"Because I'm a whore?" he shrugged casually.

"Don't say that!!! You're just a professional sex worker. That's just it!" Hermione scolded.

Draco chuckled. "This is hardly the time for euphemisms, Hermione."

"Shut up, Draco. Just shut up okay? Don't behave like you're very good. It doesn't befit a Slytherin. So shut up and come here."

She stood up from her chair and grabbed him, pulling him forward and enveloping him in a big hug and Draco let her. They both needed it.

"Don't you dare say that again. You might believe yourself to be a coward, but in reality you're so brave, Draco. .... Not everyone can handle things the way you've been doing for such a long time." Hermione sniffled and Draco petted her hair, smiling slightly. "I'm so so soooo proud of you!" she said, tightening her hold and Draco hugged her back with the same intensity.

 

********************

Later that night, Hermione sat in the chair beside Draco's bed, trying to read the book she had in front of her...but her thoughts were elsewhere. Draco was asleep. He had wanted to see Scorpius but after being reprimanded for the second time for trying to stand up, he had grudgingly gone to bed. But only after she had assured him that Scorpius was fine and was in the room just beside his.

Hermione had informed Ron that she won't be home tonight as well and asked him not to repeat this morning's incident with Rose. Ron believed she was in Grimmauld Place.

She sighed and closed the book, knowing it's no use to keep attempting to read when her mind was so distracted. She held Draco's hand again, looking at him sleeping peacefully. She really wanted to help him, but how? Draco had made her promise not to tell anyone about it and she knew Draco will never accept any monetary help from her. But she can't just let him keep doing what he's been doing all this while just because he has no choice.

Draco had later admitted that he had been eating only a single meal everyday, the breakfast at Hermione's house. She can start by forcing him to eat three meals a day at her place. Even if he won't accept money, he will _have_ to agree to this, Hermione wasn't letting him go otherwise. And then maybe slowly she can try talking to him, and make him accept her help....?

She put her head down on the bed and was soon asleep. Afterall she hadn't slept the previous night as well......Life was never easy.

 

 


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm soooooo sorry it took so long to update. I don't really have an excuse. Hopefully, I won't take long for the next one......... :)

**CHAPTER  13**

The headline flashed,

**_MASS  BREAKOUT  FROM  AZKABAN  AGAIN?_**

Harry spit out his coffee.

By the time he had completed the paperwork last night, it had been 11:30 pm and obviously it wasn't such a pleasant time to fix a meeting with anyone, let alone Draco. So he had gone home and crashed on his own sofa, having no energy to walk to the bedroom. And that's just it. When he woke up the following morning he had just the right amount of time to get dressed and leave for work, but that is where magic comes in handy, right?

Being too lazy to shower he had cast a few cleaning charms on himself.  Kreacher being the _'lovely'_ elf he was, had already made him breakfast and a nice cup of coffee and Harry had been sipping the coffee, relishing the taste.

He had just sat at the table with cup in one hand and _The Daily Prophet_ in another and BAM!

The coffee he'd been sipping was spat back in its cup.

Harry quickly unfolded the paper and started reading.

 

_As reported by the Ministry of Magic in the early hours of this morning, there has been a mass breakout from Azkaban which can be approximately timed between 3 to 4 am. This has  come as a major shock to the public as the last time this had happened nine years ago , it had been You know Who's doing. The criminals who escaped are indeed former death eaters. The wizarding community is going crazy outside the Ministry while aurors have been trying to contain the commotion._

_The Ministry is trying to keep their heads cool and have given assurance that the aurors are working on it and will soon round up these escaped convicts, but according to some Ministry sources, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement isn't as confident as they are showing out to be. (These trusted sources have requested to keep their identities hidden.)_

_Meanwhile, rumour has it Draco Malfoy being the only known death eater who managed to circumvent any serious punishment after the war, has a crucial role to play in this prison abscond._

_"It's just not possible that a mass breakout could occur without the help of someone working from outside." said a Ministry insider. "There's a strong suspicion of Draco Malfoy being behind this escape of such a huge magnitude, seeing his father is one of the escaped criminals. But we ask the public not to panic as he is currently being held in custody at the Ministry."_

_While nothing has been proved yet, the Ministry has given affirmation that they are doing everything they could. As the Ministry is working to recapture these criminals, we ask the people of the wizarding population to remain cautious and alert._

The article was accompanied by a moving picture of people crowding outside the Ministry. Below that were the photographs of the former death eaters who had escaped.

_Augustus Rookwood_

_Alecto Carrow_

_Amycus Carrow_

_Antonin Dolohov_

_Thorfinn Rowle_

_Lucius Malfoy._

Harry's eyes moved  like a pendulum between 'Lucius Malfoy' and 'Draco Malfoy', pausing on each name for two seconds before repeating the action four more times. He pushed his chair and stood up. Placing the newspaper on the table, he wrapped his auror robes around himself and walked to the floo.

"Is Master Harry Potter sir not wanting his breakfast?"

It was Kreacher. Harry didn't pay him any mind, as his mind was already occupied with other serious issues....like the fact that Draco Malfoy was behind this prison break. He was trying to suppress the anger which was threatening to shoot up to the surface. He hurled the floo powder angrily  into the fireplace, spilling some outside on the carpet and vanished in green flames.

 

When Harry appeared in the atrium, it was utter chaos. There were aurors everywhere trying to stop the reporters who had somehow made it inside the Ministry from moving further. The reporters were pushing and jostling each other, not bothered about who got hurt in the process.

"Have you located the death eaters?"

"Did you find out how they broke out?"

"What is the Ministry's next course of action?"

They were screaming at the top of their voices, each wanting to be heard over the other.

Many of the questions were directed at Harry as well, but he pushed through the crowd and made it to the lifts. The poor button became the target of his fury as it had to bear the vicious stabs while Harry jammed the 'up' button five times.

The lift doors opened and Ron walked out. His expression that of vexation.

"Harry! Where the hell were you? You wouldn't pick up the calls nor answer my patronus and your damn floo was locked! I was just about to apparate to your house! Do you know how much went on over here?! We were summoned at 4:30 this morning and you're coming now..at eight! These auror trainees are so inept, they couldn't even keep these reporters _outside_ the Ministry! We weren't this bad, were we? And----" Ron didn't seem like he was going to stop anytime now, so Harry broke in.

"Where's Robards?"

"In the conference room. A meeting's going on and I was sent to look for you. He's angry." Ron informed Harry.

Harry took the lift without waiting for Ron. He reached level two and strode briskly towards the conference room (more like **stomped** to the conference room really).

The doors to the room banged open and Harry walked in, catching the attention of every person inside. Robards was in the middle of saying something and he literally jumped five centimetres in the air at the sound echoing off of the room.

 "Potter!" he barked. "There is no need to break open doors!" He quickly straightened out his robe and said, "I am not going into the matter of where you were when you were most needed, now that you're here... _thankfully_..." he added with a glare directed at Harry and continued, "... I want you to checkout these locations..." he held out a file, ".... that were used as hideouts in the past. The death eaters are more likely to----"  

"Where's Malfoy?"

"What?" Robards frowned.

"Where.is.Draco.Malfoy?" Harry gritted out between clenched teeth.

"You don't have to worry about him, Auror Potter. He has been taken care of and I'd really appreciate it if you don't interrupt me while I'm talking." Robards said angrily. "So as I was saying---"

"And **I** would really appreciate it if you could give me proper answers to the questions I ask." Harry interrupted again.

The aurors in the room were overtly excited to be the few ones who got to witness this _interesting_ conversation between the Head Auror and the Head- Auror- to- be.

 **"What is wrong with you, Potter?! Do you remember who you're talking to?!"** Robards growled.

"Yes, of course. I'm talking to someone who's supposed to be retired by now  but is still employed only because **_I_** refused to take up his post."

There was dead silence following these words. Robards' eyes widened so much that they might as well have popped out of their sockets. Harry could see his face turning red and then purple, but he couldn't care less.

"I think I will have to take this up with the Minister." Robards said, his voice shaking with subdued fury.

"I was about to go there myself. You're welcome to join me." said Harry, before treading out heavily.

He left the conference hall and took the lift to level one, walking briskly to the office of The Minister of Magic.

"Potter! You can't just barge into the Minister's office like this!" came Robards' breathless voice from behind Harry. He was panting with the attempt to catch up with him.

On reaching the antique, intricately carved, majestic brown oak door, Harry knocked thrice, waited a second and opened it. Kingsley Shacklebolt's office was nothing like the door. He had a high grade table made of sheesham wood with a glass tabletop facing the door, a comfy high back chair on which he was seated, signing a couple of papers. There was a huge window adorning the wall behind him, the black curtains complimenting the pale white of the wall. To the right was a ceiling-high frosted glass cabinet and a shelf holding several files. Overall it was a quite modernised office.

"Auror Potter. Auror Robards." he greeted them with a nod. Robards had finally caught up with Harry and he was breathing heavily, hands on knees.

Harry stepped into the office followed by Robards who shut the door behind him.

"How may I help you today?" Kingsley asked with a small smile.

"Good morning, Minister Shacklebolt. I have something important to discuss with you. Auror Potter here believes that I am still the Head Auror as a result of **his** _magnanimity_ bestowed on me. It is----"

"Can we please discuss this later? I have a more pressing matter to deal with, Minister." Harry piped in with as much decorum as he could muster.

"This seems equally important, Auror Potter." Kingsley said solemnly.

 _"No it's not!!"_ Harry banged his hand on the table, decorum flying out the window.

"Auror Robards, if you could be so kind as to wait outside for a few minutes." Kingsley requested, motioning to the door. Robards gave Harry a long look before nodding at Kingsley and leaving the office.

"Take a seat, Auror Potter." the Minister gestured to the chair in front of him.

"No thank you, sir."

Kingsley rubbed his temples and looked  at Harry who had a scowl etched on his face.

"What happened, Harry?" Kingsley asked with a sigh, dropping all formality.

"Why is Draco Malfoy under custody?" Harry got right to the point.

"Isn't it obvious? He is suspected of having a hand in the prison break."

"Don't talk like an idiot, Kingsley! You _know_ he has nothing to do with it!" Harry exclaimed exasperatedly.

"I never said **_I_** suspected him, Harry. You and I, both know he won't do anything like this, but in the eyes of the public, he's still the same boy who helped in Dumbledore's murder."

"He was pardoned, Kingsley! He served his sentence and was pardoned for his mistakes!"

" _We_ know that, Harry, but the people never forgave him for what he did. Nobody bothers if he was still a kid, if he wasn't even an adult... all they see is the mark on his arm. All _they_ know is that he was in league with Voldemort and that is all that matters to them."

"Fine! I don't care what the others think. I just want him out, that's all."

"There will be an investigation, Harry and only then could anything be done. His father being one of the escaped criminals makes it more complicated. You know I cannot intervene. If I order them to let him out, the media will get wind of it."

"You're the _Minister of Magic_ for god's sake! There must be _something_ you could do! Investigate all you want, but he's not gonna stay locked up!"

Kingsley took up what Harry likes to call _'his thinking pose'_ , elbow on the table, thumb supporting chin and fingers shading the side of his face. After a minute he looked up at Harry with a serious look and said,

"I have an idea. If you agree to be his parole officer until he's found not guilty of helping the convicts escape, he can be let out."

"Yes, okay." Harry readily agreed to it.

"You realise what you're agreeing to? He's _not_ being let out on _probation_. So he will have to stay with you for his parole....." Kingsley cocked up his eyebrows in question.

It took a second to dawn on Harry the implications of what he was agreeing to and when it did,

 _"What?!"_ he yelled. "That's the best you could come up with?!"

"Do you have something better in mind? If people question me, I could say that he's only been let out on parole and that Auror Potter is keeping an eye on him."

"But that's....I mean....I can't....He will never agree to it." Harry stammered.

"That's _his_ problem. Why have _you_ got your knickers in a twist?" Kingsley smirked.

"It's not funny, Kingsley! You know we could hardly tolerate each other in a huge castle, now sharing the _same house_ is not gonna be easy! We'll end up killing each other!"

"There's nothing else I could do, Harry. I know this isn't how things work, parole officers are not required to host prisoners in their own house but the wizengamot will never agree to let him out without a catch." Kingsley gave him a sad smile.

After five whole minutes,

"Alright, fine. I'll do it." said Harry.

Kingsley scribbled something on a piece of paper, signing his name and sent it flying.

"He's in the holding cell."

"Thanks, Kingsley." Harry smiled, reaching for the door.

"Auror Potter?" Kingsley called before he can step out, the formality back in his tone.

"Yes, Kin---- sir?"

"Just remember that no matter what, Robards is still your senior and I won't tolerate any disrespect towards any of my staff. He has every right to sack you if he wants and if he decides to do so, I will not come to your aid."

"Yes, sir." Harry nodded guiltily.

************************

 

Hermione was still frantically pacing the Ministry hallway outside the holding cells. She wasn't allowed to go inside as she didn't have permission. Ron was busy with the mayhem of the breakout and she wasn't able to contact Harry. She had no idea what to do now. She was just contemplating going to Kingsley when she noticed Harry walking towards her.

"Oh Harry!" she was so happy to see him. "Draco's been arrested!"

"I know, Mione. I spoke to Kingsley. He will be let out now."

"Oh!! You spoke to Kingsley! I was just about to go to him! Thank Merlin he's being released. I was so worried! He isn't even fully healed yet. These aurors didn't even wait for him to be properly discharged from the hospital before pulling him out of bed and bringing him here!" Hermione ranted, distaste at the aurors' conduct coating her words.

"He's not exactly being _released_ \--- wait a minute, hospital? Why was he in hospital?" Harry asked, confused.

 _Oops!_ Hermione had been so relieved that she had spoken without thinking.

"Oh..um...he.....actually...got injured....at work..." Hermione said, trying her damnedest to meet Harry's eyes and keep her expression neutral.

"What work does he do that he had to be hospitalized?"

"You forget that. You said he wasn't exactly being released, what do you mean?" Hermione asked, quickly changing the topic.

"Yeah..... He's being let out on account of me being his parole officer....which means he will have to stay with me...." Harry sighed.

"Don't be so upset about it, Harry. You know he's changed." Hermione patted his arm in consolation.

"Yeah I know that, but I'm not very sure he's gonna be happy about this arrangement."

" _You_ cheer up first, then we'll see how happy  or _not_ he is. Now go, get him out." she pushed him lightly towards the door.

******************

Draco was dozing on the stone bench in his holding cell when he heard the creaking sound of his gate opening. He opened his eyes thinking it was one of the aurors who had come to take him to the investigation rooms as they said they would, when he was assaulted by the image of Potter standing there. It was the first time he saw him after that almost-kiss that had happened yesterday and he quickly looked down to hide his embarrassment.

 _Don't be stupid, Draco! Stop acting like a pubescent school girl. Your brain had been befuddled with sleep._ Draco told himself.

 _Assume what you may. You know you're lying,_ said another voice in Draco's brain.

_Shut up!_

"Draco?" Potter called.

Draco looked up with a sneer, trying his best to act normal. He didn't directly look at Harry, he was staring at a point somewhere above his shoulder.

"Hello, Potter. So _you_ are the one assigned to investigate me? I did hope for better actually."

_Malfoys' first rule: If you are thrust in an uncomfortable situation, make a biting remark to mask the awkwardness you're feeling._

"Actually, no. I've come to let you out."

"Let me out?"

"I spoke to Kingsley...um, Minister Shaklebolt." Harry looked equally uncomfortable, albeit for a different reason.

"And he agreed to release me?" Draco asked happily.

"Well...not exactly...." Harry scratched his head.

Draco waited for a whole minute for Potter to continue but Potter only continued to scratch his head, messing the already very messy hair- if that was even possible.

"Potter, are you always like this or is this buffoonish behaviour only  reserved for me?"

"The thing is.... youwillhavetostaywithmeinmyhouse" Harry blurted out, rushing the words without a break.

"Wow! I didn't know you were so fluent in gibberish." Draco screwed up his eyebrows in an attempt to understand what Harry was saying.

"Oh God!" Harry groaned. "I'm supposed to be your parole officer until you're proven to have not been involved in helping those death eaters escape and until then...... you are supposed to stay at my house." Harry sighed, looking at the floor.

There was silence for a minute and then,

"Okay, let's go." Draco said.

"What?" Harry looked up so fast, he cricked his neck.

"I said **let's go**." Draco screamed in Harry's ear.

"You don't have a problem with that?"

"Does it really matter?"

"Yes, it does! I was expecting you to throw a tantrum here and you so coolly say 'let's go'. You can't expect me _not_ to be shocked."

"For your information, I am not very _happy_ with this arrangement." Draco folded his arms stubbornly. "But I don't wanna waste my time in talking about things which cannot be changed. Because no matter how much I am gonna despise staying with **_you_** , it's still my only choice. After my time in Azkaban, I decided never to step foot in a prison again and in order to do that, if I have to live with **_you_** , fine, I don't mind. For the past few years, nothing goes the way I want it  to and I've learnt to live with it. So yeah, if **_you_** are the only option I've got, then so be it."

"Can you please stop curling the _'you'?_ It's not any better than you spitting out _'Potter'_."

Draco just raised his eyebrow and walked out.

 ***********************

Harry signed a few papers and entered the hallway to find Hermione hugging Draco, which in itself was very surprising. Harry didn't know they had gotten so close.

"Are you alright?" asked Hermione.

"I'm fine, Hermione."

"Do you need to go back to the hospital?"

"Nah, I'm pretty much healed now. Magic is always fast." Draco waved off her concern.

Harry frowned. Now that he thought about it, Hermione had deflected his question of what work does Draco do that he was so badly injured and needed to be hospitalized.

"You'll manage staying with Harry?"

"As long as _he_ doesn't step out of line. Because if he does, then you can't exactly blame me for murdering him in his sleep."

Hermione smacked him on the head.

"Ouch! You are an evil witch, Granger." Draco said playfully, rubbing his head.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

Harry looked on, surprised. Harry had expected Draco to react violently at Hermione hitting him. This was way too friendly for Harry to process.

"You better behave, Draco. Harry's not that bad, you know." Hermione said.

"We'll see about that." Draco grinned.

"I didn't know you two had become this close friends." Harry moved out of the shadows and walked towards them.

Draco immediately stopped grinning, his expression turning sour.

"You've got a problem with that, Potter?" he asked without turning to look at him.

"No! When did I say that?"

"Draco, go home and rest. I'll get your things from your place for you." Hermione intervened, trying to ease the tension.

" ** _Potter's_** home _._ Not exactly mine, is it?" he muttered, still not looking at Harry and walking away towards the apparition point.

"What _is_ his problem?" Harry asked as soon as he was out of earshot. "Is the prospect of staying with me that bad that he's so irritated?"

"No, I don't think the real problem is _staying_ with you. I think there's something else that's got him upset." Hermione said, thinking.

"Maybe his son?"

Hermione shook her head. " Can't be. He doesn't seem _worried_. He's only annoyed at you."

Harry snorted. "Like that's anything new. Anyway, I'll see you later then."

"Okay." waved Hermione.

Harry found Draco waiting for him at the apparition point rather impatiently.

"Will you hurry up?" he snapped, still not looking his way.

Harry held out his hand for side-along and Draco eyed it for a second with disdain before taking hold of it. Harry apparated them directly to the living room.

"So this is your humble abode. Not very good, I must say." Draco said, walking around like he owned the place.

"Thanks." said Harry, rolling his eyes. "Do you want me to show you around?"

"No, I'll manage. Where's my room? I hope there _is_ one. I won't sleep on the couch."

"Yeah, yeah. The one on the left." Harry pointed to the door on the left leading to the guest bedroom.

Draco walked towards the door and turned around to look at him directly for the first time that day.

"Before I go, I have a set of rules."

"Go on." said Harry, rolling his eyes again.

"Don't disturb me when I'm inside."

"Okay."

"I won't pay for my food as it's you who is hosting me and I'm here without a choice."

"I wasn't going to ask you to pay."

"You are not allowed to enter my room without my permission , especially when I'm not here."

"You do realise it's **_my_** house..?"

"Yep! I know that and guess what?" Draco paused for dramatic effect and said, "I don't care." he shrugged, a smirk playing at his lips. Then he turned around and went into his room, shutting the door with a thud.

"Arrogant prat." Harry muttered to the walls.

*****************

As soon as he closed the door, Draco took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. This was going to be one hell of a stay at Potter's house. Whenever Potter was there, all he could think about was that kiss that didn't even happen! What was wrong with him?! Maybe he should have just kissed Potter that time and been done with it. He could have said he wasn't in his right mind or something. Maybe it's just a passing crush which will go away with time....yeah, that's just it.

But the thing is, Draco had had crushes in his life but none of them made him feel this way. It was like a numb ache in his gut whenever Potter was there. A feeling you get when you lose someone or when you know you can never have them. An empty feeling in your heart that you know can only be filled by that someone. Eeesshh! This was too dramatic for Draco. He shook his head to clear it.

Let's focus on more important things. Like the fact how he was supposed to return from work with Potter in the house. Because no matter how dumb a person is, they will obviously know when a person is reeking of sex. Afterall, it doesn't take a genius to figure it out. It only complicates things with Potter there. Maybe he should have chosen to stay locked up.

 _No, No, Draco!_ _You couldn't go back to Azkaban! Anywhere is better than there._

One more day there and Draco knew he'll go insane. Should he go over to Hermione's and shower before coming here? But Weasley is gonna be there! Okay, so all he could do was come back late. He will have to wait for Potter to leave for the Ministry before he could return.

He walked to the bed and lied down on it. He hoped Scorp was fine. He wanted to go see him now, but he had no energy absolutely. Although the wounds were healed, he was still too tired and sore all over. He felt like he needed a massage. His whole body ached with the beating it suffered last night. If only there were lesser people, he might have been able to fight them. As it was, he had been outnumbered.

He was hungry too, but by now he had had practice to handle that. He didn't want to get up and go to the kitchen. Potter is going to be there and he didn't want to face him again so fast.

_God! Why Potter?! Couldn't it have been anyone else?! Potter of all people!_

Seriously, Potter knowingly or unknowingly was a definite pain in the arse. Not enough he was always there during his childhood, besting him at everything, always around to mock him that he didn't want to stop irritating him even now. His mere presence was enough to set Draco on edge, whether because he hated him for years or because he suddenly started liking him, he didn't know. Ah! As soon as he thought of Potter, there was that deep longing again! By now, no matter how much he didn't want to, he had to accept that he genuinely _liked_ Potter.

He looked around the room. It was nice and cosy. Decorated with peaceful colours, giving a homely effect. It wasn't very big, it had a modest wardrobe, a dresser, a side table and a queen sized bed beside the window embellished with silk curtains. To be honest, Draco loved Potter's house. It was so contemporary but not overdone. Draco had expected it to be covered with garish red wallpaper with gryffindor posters or something...but there was no trace of red at all. Maybe because Potter didn't really like red. Draco still remembered that day at the restaurant when they had had breakfast, Potter had said his favourite colour was green. Draco liked green too. He smiled to himself thinking about it.

 The comment about how Potter's house wasn't very good was just Draco trying to be rude.

_Malfoys' second rule: Being rude is another way to deal with your own insecurities._

So that's what Draco's been trying to do from morning. Seeing as Potter was the reason for Draco being insecure and uncomfortable, he was attempting to be as rude as he can to Potter. But something was really off. He was actually feeling bad for being rude to him for no reason whatsoever. He never had a  problem being rude to him before..... yes of course! It's his brain fighting his heart. Since he developed this stupid crush (or whatever this was), his heart wasn't very fond of him being a jerk to someone it likes. Draco rolled his eyes.

 _"Oh come on! It's not like you really **like** him!" _ the brain spoke to the heart " _You actually hate him! Like, it's not the **like** like...it's just like.. Like the normal like."_

The brain was confusing the heart even more.

Draco covered his face with a pillow and groaned in irritation. He was fucked up. Totally fucked  up.....

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please Comment!!!


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm very late but life is hectic and I'm just too busy! I'm sorry!

**CHAPTER  14**

It was 4 pm and Harry knocked on Draco's door. It took a long while but after fifteen minutes of knocking, a sleepy Draco with ruffled hair opened the door, squinting at the light from the hall. His shirt was wrinkled and his eyes were puffy, hardly open. He was sporting a questioning look on his face coupled with a frown. Harry thought he looked very cute like this.

Draco waited for Potter to say something but when Potter just stared at him with a goofy grin on his face, Draco became aware of his disheveled appearance. Potter was probably laughing at his rumpled state. He hastily smoothed down his shirt and hair, glaring at the bespectacled git.

"If you're grinning at my appearance, you can stop it now." Draco stated irritatedly.

"No, you look very cute actually."

As soon as the words were out, Harry clamped his mouth shut. Just why does he sometimes speak without thinking?! He watched as Draco's eyes widened and his eyebrows went up.... and up..... and up.... and almost disappeared in his hairline.

"Um... I came to tell you that it's already four and you missed lunch. I thought you might be hungry... so yeah..."

"Did you forget my first rule? Don't disturb me when I'm inside." Draco snapped and closed the door on Potter's face.

Now he definitely _knew_ Potter was mocking him. That stupid mutt! How dare he! Draco walked to the dresser and stood in front of it, scrutinizing his image.

He didn't look that bad now, did he? Sure, his clothes weren't neatly pressed but his hair was a lot better than Potter's bird's nest..... but what slightly felt odd were his eyes. They were the same smoky grey but there was no life behind them. Draco remembered them being the lustrous colour of a polished shard of metal, having the capacity to pierce the onlooker with a single glare....... now they were just monochrome. The ice behind them had melted long ago, he knew that, but he hadn't expected them to look so....void. These vacant grey orbs with tinges of blue at the edges scared him.....these can't be his eyes....this can't be him.....

 

*****************

Harry moved away from the door, cursing. He was about to move into his room when he stopped in  the middle of the corridor. What was he _doing_? Malfoy had the audacity to shut the door on his face and he was not even bothered. That wasn't right.

He turned around and rapped his knuckles on the door hard.

"Malfoy! Open the bloody door!"

No reply.

"Malfoy, open the door or I'll force my way in, don't think I won't!"

Harry waited for exact ten seconds before pulling out his wand and doing a non verbal _Alohomora_. The door swung open and Harry marched in to find Draco in front of the mirror.

"I'm telling you, Malfoy, this attitude of yours is not going to work here, it's....." Harry cut himself off because it didn't seem like Malfoy was listening. He was busy staring into the mirror.

"Malfoy?"

No answer.

"Malfoy!"

No answer yet again. Malfoy was still engrossed in his reflection.

Oh come on! Harry wasn't in the mood to play.

"I know you're too busy admiring yourself, but I don't have time for this, Malfoy!"

And Malfoy was brought back to reality by a sharp poke to the shoulder.

"Wha...?" Malfoy appeared confused for a moment before his eyes cleared and he shot a sharp glare at Harry and his lips curled in disgust. For a moment Harry felt like he was seeing the same snarky Draco Malfoy from school who believed everyone to be beneath him. 

"Potter. How the _fuck_ did you get in?"

"I'm a wizard, Malfoy." Harry said simply, rolling his eyes.

"Very funny, Potter!" spat Malfoy. " Now get out."

Harry folded his hands, rooting himself to the spot and glared back as hard as he could, trying to compete with Malfoy eventhough he knew his glare was no match for his.

"I said _get out_ Potter!" Malfoy gritted out.

"Make me." shrugged Harry and Draco was all for it. He walked the two steps towards Harry and shoved him back with all his might. Harry hadn't been expecting that and he fell flat on his ass with a 'whoof'. His auror instinct kicked in and he pulled out his wand within a fraction of a second, pointing it straight at Malfoy.

Malfoy looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Going to attack someone who's unarmed? Where is the Gryffindor chivalry?" he smirked and Harry desperately wanted to wipe that smirk off his face.

He threw the wand to the side, raising himself off the ground and punched Malfoy in the face causing him to stagger back a few steps...and that was the final blow.

Malfoy lunged at Harry, jabbing him in the ribs with his knee. His eyes watering, he avoided one flying fist only to collide with another in the stomach and Harry's breath left him in a whoosh.

Harry knocked Malfoy to the ground and in return Malfoy kicked him in the shin, pulling him to the floor as well and climbing atop him but Harry was quicker and stronger. He rolled him off and straddled his lap, attempting to restrain his hands at the same time. Despite his attempt, Malfoy's elbow connected with his jaw and there was a sickening crack.

***************

Draco knew Potter can easily overpower him but he wasn't going to give up without a fight...because _this_ , this fighting with Potter had a familiar ring to it, _this_ is what he's always done and _this_ brought comfort to that unsettling feeling from moments before....because those empty eyes had disturbed him way too much.

Potter was now sporting a split lip, his cheekbone was bloody and swollen and it was evident that his jaw was broken. He was now gripping Draco's hands above his head and before Draco could try to loosen his grip, Potter pulled his fist back and punched Draco in the face, successfully breaking his nose.

Draco dodged his next punch and headbutted him across the face and the force made Draco himself see stars for a second but when his eyes cleared, he found Potter leaning against the foot of the bed, clutching his face.

Draco made to stand up but Potter stuck his foot out and Draco went crashing to the floor, twisting his foot in the process. The next second, Draco bashed Potter's head on the opposite wall and Potter went limp in Draco's arms.

*******************

_Harry was happily flying in the air. The sun was setting and Harry could make out someone flying ahead, the rays of light reflecting off of his blond hair, giving him a ghostly appearance. The figure was moving very fast and now Harry could only see his silhouette._

_Harry leant forward on his broom, speeding to catch up with the figure. Something told him that this was a race and he wasn't going to give up. He moved as fast as his broom would allow. The wind whipped his hair, blurring his vision for a moment and Harry hastily brushed the strands aside._

_He was nearing the man now and before he could realise what was happening, the man took a steep U- turn, directly heading towards Harry and in an attempt to avoid crashing into him, Harry abruptly pulled left and lost balance._

_He slipped off the broom and was now falling through the air, the wind roaring in his ears, he felt like it was taking him forever  to reach the ground. Darkness was closing in on him from all sides and before he could reach the ground, the man caught him and pulled him up. Disoriented for a second, Harry gazed into his soft grey eyes, the same shade of a stormy sky and he stared back with what Harry could only describe as reverence. This staring contest went on for what seemed like hours but could have been only a minute. Neither blinked._

_The blond figure then leaned forward, slowly, inch by inch....until his lips lightly brushed him. You could hardly describe it as a kiss, it was over before it even started, but all in all, it was **divine.**_

**_"Enervate"_ ** _whispered the blond figure._

 

And Harry opened his eyes slowly, only to look into the same grey orbs again.

Draco Malfoy was hovering above his face, his lips were at a distance of mere five centimetres from Harry's own and Harry wanted nothing more than to continue where they left off. If he could just lean in a bit, he could capture those lips with his own but before he could proceed to do so, Draco moved away and Harry was rudely and thankfully brought back to reality by a sharp pain coursing through his head from where he had subconsciously lifted it to kiss Draco.

It took him a moment to realise he wasn't dreaming and the previous events came rushing back. He looked around, hoping to find himself at the foot of Draco's bed but he was in his own room, lying in his bed, snuggly wrapped in his duvet.

"Drink up, Potter." said Draco, handing him a vial with a green liquid in it which Harry knew was a pain relieving potion. He quickly swallowed it, thankful for the little ease it brought him.

"I couldn't find anything better than the mild pain relieving potion in your cabinet. You need to stock up on your potions." Draco said, handing Harry a glass of water and helping him sit up. Draco carefully put a pillow behind Harry to make him comfortable with a delicacy Harry didn't know he was capable of.

"I healed the broken jaw and the head injury. You'll probably have a concussion---- **Don't touch it!"**

"Ouch!" Harry had tried to feel the wound covered up with what Harry thought was a plaster but it hurt like hell. "I thought you said you healed it!"

"It's not _fully_ healed, Potter. Even magic is only capable of so much.  It's likely gonna be sore for a few more hours. You'll be fine by morning."

Harry nodded and immediately regretted it.

"Gosh! Can't you just stay still?! Stop moving your head!" Draco scolded.  He checked the time and said, "I'll have to leave for work now, there's dinner in the kitchen and there are two vials of the pain relieving potion here on the side table in case the pain becomes too much. Don't try to move around much. If there's any problem, call ASAP, I saved my number in your phone. Is there anything else you need?"

"No. Just wondering what's gotten into you...." Harry replied.

"What do you mean?"

Harry snorted. "It's ironic, isn't it? First you break my head and then you heal me like you actually care."

 _I do care!_ was what Draco actually wanted to say, but instead he murmured something.

Annoyed, Harry snapped, "That was unintelligible. Care to repeat?"

"I'm sorry! You heard me now?" Draco snapped back.

"Ha! Did I hear correctly? Draco Malfoy just _apologized_ to _Harry Potter_?! Or did I just hit my head pretty hard?" Harry was far too amused.

Draco rolled his eyes. "I shouldn't have enervated you.... speaking of which, I used your wand, hope you don't mind." Draco handed back the holly wand and Harry snatched it from his hand, staring at Draco suspiciously.

"It was to _heal_ you alright! I didn't use it for anything else."

Harry looked abashed. "Thanks." he whispered and Draco nodded his head, moving to the door.

"Draco!" Harry called before he could leave. "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have provoked you."

Draco appeared surprised for a second and opened his mouth to say something but seemed to think better of it. He nodded and was about to step out when Harry called him yet again. He sighed and turned back. "Now what, Potter?"

"You're limping..." Harry said simply. "...and your nose is still bleeding.....Why didn't you heal yourself?"

Draco didn't really have an answer to that. He had been so worried when Potter passed out that he hadn't realised he himself was hurt. Not knowing what to say he shrugged his shoulders.

"Come here, let me heal you."

"That's fine, Potter. I've had worse."

Harry looked on questioningly. Something wasn't right. Just this morning Hermione told him he had been injured at work for which he was " _hospitalized"_.Just how _dangerous_ was his job? Harry needed to find out as quickly as possible.

"I'm sure you have, but that doesn't mean you _shouldn't_ mend your "not so bad injuries"."

Draco sauntered back towards Harry and Harry flicked his wand, non-verbally fixing his nose and ankle as easily as possible.

"Show off" mouthed Draco, walking out of the room, smiling to himself.

**********************

7 am.

Draco Malfoy was found treading as slowly as possible, searching for a deserted street to board the knight bus. He was two streets away from his flat, if only he wasn't in pain, he could have used the floo from there to reach Potter's house but as it was, he was finding it hard to keep one foot in front of the other, he definitely couldn't climb the five fleet of steps.

Dragging his feet, he put out his hand as soon as he reached the end of the street and the knight bus almost ran him over. The good conductor (who wasn't Stan Shunpike) was considerate enough to help him up those few steps and _then_ get on with his 'welcome address'.

Last night had been hectic. It had started out quite well. Claire was supposedly on leave, though for what, nobody knew. Draco assumed she was probably on a holiday with one of her clients who had taken a fancy to her. This thought lead to Draco rolling his eyes.

Mia had told him there weren't any customers sent by Graham and for the first three hours he had been free...... joking around with Mia who had wanted to know _how_ he and Hermione had disappeared without a trace from the room the previous night.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Draco had made up a story about how she had been so freaked out by the blood covering the floor that she didn't register anything else happening around her. Mia glared distrustfully but she didn't push it.

Then there had been customers who had sought him and he had had to go....and all Draco could say about them was that they weren't all that gentle. They had kept him up all night without a break.

He knew he looked like shit and his original plan was to clean up at his flat before he could go back to Potter's house, but it hadn't worked. Even Hermione's wasn't an option because Weasley's gonna be there. He couldn't even wish for Potter to have left to attend to his auror duties because Draco didn't have the house key. Irritated, Draco thought it better to stop thinking and to just face it.

He closed his eyes, trying to bring to mind some happy memory to cheer himself and the first thing that popped up was of course Harry.......and that kiss yesterday. He knew Harry had thought he had dreamt it (for which Draco was glad) but Draco still bore a twinge of guilt for doing it.

Draco had just finished patching him up and was thinking of reviving him when he noticed how peaceful Harry looked lying there, with his lips slightly parted, pale pink and a little chapped, he looked adorable and Draco couldn't help himself. That small kiss had been pure bliss and he couldn't take his mind off of it. After that sweet kiss, Draco knew he was too far gone and there was no turning back. His hopes that once he kissed him, this crush will be gone, were crushed (no pun intended). That kiss had him longing for more. That kiss confirmed that he's fallen for Harry. Fallen hard.

*****************

Harry groggily opened his eyes, the sunlight too bright for his already hurting head. He was still very sleepy and desperately wanted to go back to bed. He looked around, trying to determine what had woken him up and he realised it was his own head.

He had skipped dinner, too lazy to walk to the kitchen and had instantly fallen asleep forgetting the potion. Actually that wasn't completely true, he hadn't _instantly_ fallen asleep, he had been in a daze, dreaming of Draco again, showering kisses all over his face which had lead to him snoozing on and off before being engulfed by a deep sleep. Maybe he _did_ hurt his head pretty hard.

Sighing, he unhurriedly brought himself to a sitting position, happy that he didn't need the support of pillows, uncorked the vial and swallowed the potion in one go, grimacing at the bitter aftertaste.

He eased himself back into bed when there was a knock at the door. He had all intentions of ignoring it because all his friends and colleagues were cued to the wards and can directly apparate in or floo over, but whoever was outside didn't seem to want to go and leave Harry to his peaceful slumber.

After the fourth knock, Harry got up from bed, cursing under his breath and swiftly strode to the door, swearing to God he'll murder the visitor if he/she was a salesperson or his over enthusiastic neighbour who always ran out of sugar.

Opening the door, he found himself looking at a very shabby Draco Malfoy, shirt half untucked, buttons half way done, trousers perched a little below the hip, messed up hair......whatever Harry was, he sure wasn't stupid. He could recognise the 'just shagged' look anywhere.

Harry didn't want to comment on it though, because the last time that had happened......the consequences hadn't been that great, to put it lightly. He moved to the side to allow him entrance, shutting the door and turning around to find Draco trudging his way to the corridor leading to his room, his footsteps unsteady, and he looked worse for wear.

Draco had left for work last night and from what Harry knew, nightshifts always ran till morning. He checked his watch, it was 7:45......pretty early to get laid, and even if Draco _did_ find someone to get down with, say on his way back or something (which is a little impractical) _why_ does he look like he was at it for hours...?????

Harry was reminded of that man at the restaurant, what was his name? Ah! Cole! Draco said he was someone from his workplace, didn't he?...... Do colleagues really do something so stupid? Won't they be fired if they are caught? And from what Hermione told him, it seemed like it was normal for Draco to get hurt on the job.

It just wasn't adding up! Should he just ask Draco about the nature of his job? Even before this question popped into mind, Harry knew it was a useless idea. Draco will not tell him for sure. How about Hermione? Harry was sure she knew _something_ about it. Yeah, that's a better idea and that's what he was going to do.

********************

"Scorp, honey, you'll be fine, just hold on okay? Daddy's going to find you a cure very soon. Now I'll have to go, darling. I'll be back later." Draco placed a light kiss on the little blond boy's forehead, an exact replica of Draco, just a smaller version.  "Miss you, love you." he whispered to the sleeping boy, unsure of whether he could even hear and process what he's saying.

Every time Draco saw his baby like this, it broke his heart a little more. Draco had spent the entire morning locked up in his room, wallowing in self pity when his stomach had reminded him how hungry it was. He opened the door slowly, peeking his head to thankfully find the hallway empty. He wasn't in the mood to face Potter and answer his questions yet. His silence in the morning was in itself surprising.

Draco had expected Potter to go into the full on enquiry mode but Potter had miraculously remained quiet the whole while. Draco had eaten cornflakes with milk, owing to the fact that Potter's kitchen had nothing else available. Potter seriously needed to stock his pantry along with the potions cabinet, but Draco couldn't really complain, as _his_ kitchen had even fewer ingredients comparatively.

So Draco had eaten whatever was available and left the house to visit Scorp. He had stayed here for three hours and was now walking to the floo.

When Draco stepped out of the fireplace, he found Potter seated on the couch, a glass of butterbeer in hand, two empty bottles lying on the floor. Draco plopped down beside Potter, taking a sip of butterbeer directly from the bottle. The thick liquid moved down his throat, making him feel warm and relaxed. Heaven knows he needed it.... a break from what he's going through in life right now.

After a few more sips in silence, Potter spoke,

"What do you do when you're confused?"

"That's an abstract question with an abstract answer."

"Hmmm...." was all Potter said after a long time. He seemed to be in very deep thought.

Four  sips later....

"If you could tell me what you're confused about, maybe I could help you..?" Draco offered.

Two sips later....

"You know how I told you I spoke to the Minister yesterday to release you?" Potter asked.

Draco nodded, eventhough he knew Potter wasn't waiting for an answer.

"It wasn't that easy." Potter continued. "I had an argument with Robards before I approached the Minister and shall I say the argument didn't end quite well."

"What exactly did you say?" Draco asked tentatively. Knowing Potter and his ability to blurt out things without thinking through, Draco was sure Potter had said something terrible.

"Er....Um....Well..."

"You can tell me. I won't judge you." Draco encouraged and Potter looked at him distrustfully before continuing,

"I told him something along the lines of how he's still the Head Auror only because **_I_** didn't wanna do it and how he should be retired by now......" Potter said in a low voice, guilt evident in it.

"You really did say that?!" Draco asked, shocked by what he was hearing. "I thought you were the golden boy who could do no wrong and even respected the ant crossing the road??" Draco wiggled his eyebrows teasingly.

"Shut up, Malfoy. I just wasn't in my right mind and Kingsley told me that he won't tolerate any disrespect towards his employees and if Robards decides to fire me, he won't do anything about it."

"Hmhmhm...So now what's your problem?" Draco asked.

 **"What's my problem?!!"** Potter repeated disbelievingly, "Don't you see?! If I go back, Robards is going to sack me and I don't want to lose my job!"

"So that is why you stayed home yesterday! " Draco exhaled exasperatedly. " You really _are_ an idiot, Potter! He _won't_ sack you! You are one of the best aurors in the department and they can't afford to sack you , especially when there are death eaters running around the city!"

"But what if----"

"Oh stop that nonsense! The Minister knows you regret your behaviour and I'm sure Robards will understand too. Besides, you are really good at apologizing, so that should do the trick. Now get your sorry ass to the Ministry before they really decide to kick you out for neglecting work during a crucial case. I don't want you to lose your job."

"I didn't know you cared about my job." Potter smirked.

"Of course I don't. If you lose your job, I lose my parole officer. Therefore I will be thrown back in jail and you know one of the major traits of Slytherin : Self Preservation." said Draco with a cheeky grin eventhough he knew that wasn't the real reason, because in some weird way, he had actually begun to care for Harry.

Shaking his head at Draco's antics, Harry stood up from the couch and went into his room to shower and change.

**************

As Draco had said, everything had gone well. He was scolded for missing yesterday. Robards was still angry and wasn't properly talking to him but Harry knew that after his sincere apology, Robards had forgiven him and his anger was only to keep up pretences.

Ron wasn't available as he was off to Azkaban to see how the prisoners had broken out. Meanwhile, Harry was asked to get on with his case of " _Bradshaw's Mystery"_ which was the informal name given to it.

Harry had gone back to Ollivander's in search of any clue they've missed and returned to the Ministry two hours later empty handed. He and a couple of junior aurors assigned to him had scoured the whole place but had found nothing of worth there.

Exhausted and annoyed at himself for getting nowhere with this case, he sat down heavily on his chair and pulled out his notepad that he often used to write down his observations of any case. He scribbled down everything he knew and suspected was connected to Bradshaw.

 From the murder of Dal Kenzie to the clothing store being robbed, the threatening letters to Ollivander and now the attack at the wand shop by polyjuiced individuals in death eater robes. Harry even noted down how that man- whose name Harry didn't remember- had mentioned Malfoy's name.

He mentally smacked himself for not asking Malfoy about it till now. Something or the other always came up and it slipped his mind. He needed to get it done today. He had just finished writing it down when there was a knock at the door and it swung open without waiting for his reply.

It was one of those trainee aurors named Ryan who always reminded Harry of Colin Creevey. He stood there out of breath, supporting a stitch at his side like he just ran a marathon.

"What is it, Ryan?" Harry asked quickly, sensing that something unfortunate has happened.

"You are immediately summoned at Knockturn Alley, sir." A short pause to catch his breath. "Narcissa Malfoy has been found dead."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't forget to leave kudos and comments!!!


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY SORRY SORRY!!!! Please don't throw pillows at me! *wink* I promise to be a bit more prompt in updating next time..... :D

It wasn't a clean Avada Kedavra and as soon as he apparated right into the crime scene, he desperately wished it was one. The whole place was a bloody mess, both literally and metaphorically. It was clear that Harry wasn't informed immediately because he wasn't the first MLE officer on the scene. Aurors swarmed the area, some spelling barricades in place to keep out people, some were trying to  collect evidence around the body while some were having serious discussions in groups.

"Harry!" sounded a voice from his left. It was Ron beckoning him towards a more secluded area at the back of the alley. Harry walked towards him, mindful of all the blood spatters on the ground so as to not  disrupt any evidence.

"Oh, thank Merlin you're here! Robards put me in charge of this case. I was at Azkaban when there was an emergency call for me to come here. Some resident of  Diagon alley was wandering the streets when she came across....." Ron drifted off, pitifully eying the corpse of Narcissa. Harry turned towards the scene too, looking properly for the first time. Amidst all the blood he could make out  a few strands of blonde hair, the rest was in a deep brown shade due to the crusted blood.

"The witness is traumatized and is in Mungo's now. I wanted you to come because handling this alone is taking a toll on me. I've been here for the past two hours." Ron continued. "It really _is_ a gruesome murder. Looks like there was  terrible struggle. She was found with two wands clutched in her hand and her death is due to a knife wound that slashed her neck open. One of the wands was recognised as hers, the other one is still unknown. Ollivander has agreed to assist, he'll be coming to the ministry tomorrow."

At that moment, the body was levitated into a stretcher and portkeyed to the Department of Magical Forensics of the ministry along with three aurors.

Harry looked around at all the blood covering the walls and the ground. "Is all this blood hers?" he asked.

"We've been trying to determine that. Samples have been sent to the forensic department." said a female voice.

Harry turned around to find Angelina Johnson smiling at him.

"Hi!" said Harry, giving her a one armed hug.

"Hi, Harry, Hi again, Ron." she greeted. "It's been really long, hasn't it? How are you two?"

"We're doing fine." replied Ron. "I didn't find time to ask you earlier, but what are you doing here?"

"Cheeky, Ron?" Angelina rolled her eyes. "I returned from Australia two weeks back and have since been working in the forensic department at the ministry _with your wife_." she finished.

Angelina had joined as an apprentice in St.Mungo's after the war but eventually realised that her interests lie in the forensic department rather than actual healing. So she had gone to Australia to pursue training in magical forensics, visiting Britain on and off.

"I can't _believe_ Hermione didn't tell me! Neither did George!" Ron looked outraged.

Angelina and George were still together, maintaining a long distance relationship. Harry never really took George for a serious relationship guy, but by the looks of it, maybe they _are_ head over heels for each other.

Angelina suddenly blushed, whispering something totally inaudible.

"Sorry, didn't catch that." said Harry, looking confused. He'd never seen her blush before.

"Oh, forget it." she waved it off and walked away, apparating to the ministry probably.

"What was all that about?" Harry asked, still looking at the empty spot where Angelina was standing seconds ago.

"No idea, mate." replied Ron. "Now, I'm going back to the ministry to figure out how to proceed with this case. I need you to do the paperwork. Knowing Hermione, she'll probably stay at the ministry overnight trying to figure out the whole thing in a day. Which means I'll have to take care of Rose too and I'm already knackered. So please can you do the paperwork?"

"Wait a minute, why will Hermione be at the ministry? She has taken two weeks off to figure out Scorp's problem, hasn't she?"

Ron raised an eyebrow, looking at him like Harry had disappointed him somehow. "Mate, I think you forgot it's _Hermione_ we're talking about."

Yes, of course. Hermione will never miss out on work when it was such a serious case.

"Right." Harry nodded.

"Okay, see you later. Paperwork, don't forget!" Ron reminded him again before pulling out his wand to disapparate. "And Harry...?" he paused, "We've got to inform the victim's family. Can you do it?" he asked reluctantly, like he expected Harry to entirely rebuff him.

"Um...yeah, sure." he agreed hesitantly.

"Thank you! I'll buy you a drink the next time we hang out." Ron sounded relieved. Saying this, he disapparated. There were very few aurors left, trying to secure the area.

Harry couldn't bear to think of how shattered Draco's going to be. Harry himself felt like he had lost some very close relative of his, eventhough he hadn't even spoken to Narcissa after that one time in the forest. Harry took one last look at all the blood, his heart aching for the loss of another mother who saved his life, and disapparated.

***************************

"Bye, Mia!" Draco waved enthusiastically at one of his good friends before walking back to his flat. He didn't have _any_ customers last night and had spent the entirety of his time sharing snippets of his school days (sans magic of course) and in return Mia had spoken about _her_ schooling and how she really wished she never had to grow up.

Draco was in a good mood, he greeted his neighbours  who were leaving the apartment for their morning walks. He whistled a made up tune till the fifth floor landing, entering his flat and flooing to "Potter Residence". He gracefully stepped out of the fireplace. He's been doing it since he could walk after all and it was ingrained in him that Malfoys were expected to be graceful.

 _As though gracefulness really helped out in the end,_ thought Draco, sarcastically.

He looked around for Potter, for the first time wanting  him to see Draco in totally presentable attire, but Potter was nowhere.

Indignation filled Draco's mind and he pressed his lips into a thin line. _For once I wanted him to be there and trust Potter to do just the opposite!_

Not wanting to spoil his good mood, he walked to the kitchen deciding to cook breakfast. Potter still hadn't stocked his kitchen. He found a few eggs, onions, cucumbers and mushrooms. He decided to just do a simple sauteed mushroom sandwich and some eggs. He put the mushrooms on the stove, seasoned it with pepper and fried them for sometime before putting it on two slices of grilled bread.

Since he was making breakfast for himself anyway, it was only right that he makes something for Potter too. But why should he? He wasn't even here!

 _Act a little mature, Draco,_ he told himself and made two more sandwiches for Potter. He then put eggs in a pan, waiting for them  to fry.

Cooking reminded him of potions. As a kid, he had his own potions kit with a smaller cauldron than what they used at Hogwarts, in which he made different types of potions, experimenting on a few. Once, it had gone wrong and he had almost set his room on fire at the Manor. The memory brought a smile to his face. He always wanted to be a potioneer, have his own apothecary maybe.

Of course, this was before sixth year and before Voldemort decided to hang out in the manor and change Draco's life completely. Sixth year was when everything went wrong, wasn't it? Some sort of a milestone in his life which he'll forever remember......

The eggs were burning on the stove and the nasty stench of burnt eggs was what brought Draco back to reality. He quickly switched off the stove, accidently lifting the pan off the heat in a hurry only to drop it down. He burnt his fingers.

"ShitShitShit!"

He hurriedly opened the freezer door and shoved his hand inside, hissing in pain. The chill of the freezer, a soothing comfort to his throbbing hand. It was then that Potter walked in, looking like death warmed over.

"I think I should wish you a good morning but it doesn't seem like you had anything good happen this morning.... so I'll just let it be." Draco smirked, placing an ice pack on his fingers and opening the kitchen window to rid the house of the godawful stench.

When there was no reply, Draco turned around and stared at Potter, trying to make eye contact and infer what's wrong because he knew something was _definitely_ wrong. He'd begun reading Potter like an open book just by looking at his kinesics which disturbed him a little but proved to be beneficial as well.

"Potter, spill." Draco stated bluntly.

Potter hesitated, trying to look anywhere but at Draco. After what seemed to be half an hour but could have been a few minutes, he said, "Draco, um....I think....come here." and pulled him towards the sitting room.

"Sit." he said.

Some other time, Draco would have said something about how he didn't like being ordered around but he was just too curious to know what's going on with Potter that he immediately chose an armchair and plopped himself down, crossing his legs.

Potter ran a hand through his hair nervously. Draco followed it with his eyes, wishing it could be his hand instead of Potter's. Potter cleared his throat, bringing Draco's attention back to the present.

"Draco...your mother, she has been........murdered." The last word was whispered, but Draco caught it nonetheless.

He stiffened. There was an odd ringing in his ears and he couldn't be sure if Potter continued talking after that or not. His lungs constricted, making it difficult to breathe. He felt like he was being compressed from all sides. His insides were numb, he felt totally empty except for a lump in his throat and the heart in his chest, the sound of his heartbeat loud enough to overrun that ringing in his ears.

He thought he's going to pass out from all the strange things happening inside his body when he was suddenly brought out of the stupor. He didn't know how much time had passed, but Potter was now kneeling in front of him, both his hands were grasped tightly in Potter's own and it seemed like he's been trying to get his attention for a while now.

"Draco! Are you okay? Can I get you some water?" he asked carefully, staring intensely, trying to determine if Draco really _was_ alright.

"Where is she now?" Draco whispered hoarsely, his voice struggling to get past the lump still very much there in his throat. His eyes burned but there weren't any tears.

**************

"Ministry. In the forensic department."  said Harry, still watching Draco like a hawk. Draco had scared him for a minute there, still as a statue and not even breathing. He'd had to call his name nearly seven times to grab his attention.

"When can I see her?" he asked softly. Harry eyed him curiously.

"The bo----" Harry paused. As an auror, he was accustomed to using the word 'body' to refer to a corpse, he hadn't spared a single thought to it before, even while talking to the victim's loved ones. But now, it just seemed so rude to do that for Narcissa, especially in front of Draco.

"I'm sure Hermione will let you in." Harry said atlast.

Harry and Draco immediately flooed to the atrium and took the elevator to level three. There weren't many people around as it was still the early hours of the morning. Harry kept looking at Draco curiously.

 _'He's taking it rather well....'_ thought Harry. After that initial shocked silence at his house, Draco hadn't uttered a single word. Harry had expected a ruckus, demanding to find the murderer at once so he could kill him right then and there, similar to what had happened at the hospital with the healers when they'd found out about Scorp.....or maybe he had expected Draco to breakdown...he wasn't sure. But whatever it was, he hadn't expected him to calmly walk towards the double doors of the forensics department looming in front of them.

*******************

Draco could feel Potter shooting him speculative glances but he kept walking, posture stiff and head held high. He understood the reason behind the curious gaze, he was quite surprised himself that he was not causing an upheaval at the ministry right this instant.

It wasn't like the news hadn't been earth shattering, but the anguish that was missing from his demeanor was buried deep in his heart and he was avoiding thinking about it as much as possible. Maybe it just hadn't hit him yet or maybe he was in denial....he didn't really know, but as long as it stayed that way, he was glad. He didn't want the grief to take over. Not yet.

He was so occupied in his thoughts that he didn't even realise that he was already in "the" room and Potter was saying something.

"-----give you some privacy."

Potter left the place, closing the door on his way.

Draco turned around, there was a single bed amongst what seemed to be a workstation. Quills and parchment littered the tables. Shelves full of books and a computer which seemed to be charmed to work without electricity. There was a cupboard full of what seemed to be different coloured potions and Draco was willing to bet the meagre galleons he had that this was Hermione's cabin.

He took a step towards the bed, his feet as heavy as lead all of a sudden. A small part of his brain asked him to turn around and leave the place as soon as possible. He didn't want to dig up that anguish-filled part of his heart....but the more rational part of his brain urged him to go on. This was probably the last time he's going to see his mother.

He focused on placing one foot in front of the other, trying to overcome the backward pull of the imaginary strings he could _feel_ attached to his ankles. The mere ten feet distance felt like ten miles. _Finally_ he stood in front of her. She was chalk white, as pale as a ghost. Draco extended a hand, caressing her cheek and pushing the hair away from her face. He grasped her hand, laying a light kiss on the palm.

As soon as he touched her, he expected his mind to be flooded with memories like he'd seen in those very dramatic muggle movies, but nothing like that happened. All he could think of was how he just lost another inestimable part of his life. He should have gotten used to losing things by now, nothing ever stays, does it? Eventhough he didn't really know what had happened to his mother he'd still held onto that slender hope of her being safe somewhere, far away from all the mess he's currently in and even that had to be snatched away from him, didn't it?

He took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. He didn't really want to go into the self-pity mode. He's been doing great at avoiding mourning all that he's lost and he wanted it to continue the same way. His eyes still burning, he petted her head one last time and turned around, leaving the place as soon as possible.

Walking at a brisk pace he reached the floo, he could sense Potter hurrying to get to him. Without turning around he reached Potter's house and locked himself in his bedroom again.

 

**********************

In a hurry, Harry apparated home and saw Draco's door being shut. He contemplated knocking but decided he might need some alone time to get over the shock of seeing his mother dead. He quickly took a shower, brushed his teeth and went into the kitchen. He was going to call Kreacher for breakfast when he noticed four sandwiches on the counter. He ate two, deciding that Draco was indeed a better cook than him and put the other two under a warming spell to keep them fresh until Draco decides to eat them.

He went back to the Ministry, deciding to take a nap in his office when he was more or less _ambushed_ by Robards, ordering him to go to one of the interview rooms and join Auror Zyaire there interviewing Ollivander who had arrived twenty minutes back. Sighing, a fatalistic Harry made his way to level  two. Crossing the office space, he longingly looked at his cabin door before reaching the interview room where he could see Auror Zyaire's head, too small for the overlarge auror robes she wore.

He quickly nodded his greeting at Zyaire and Ollivander, took his seat across the wandmaker and tuned out the conversation that was going on. He didn't mean to do it, but his sleep deprived mind couldn't hold onto anything taking longer than two seconds. He nodded at the right places, staring intently at Ollivander and offering his "yes's" whenever Zyaire looked at him. Basically, he was sleeping with his eyes open.  

When it was over, Zyaire thanked the wandmaker and raised her eyebrows at Harry when he didn't say anything. Harry caught on at the right moment, offering his thanks with a wide smile, before dropping his head on the table and falling asleep.

He felt himself being woken with a sharp nudge at his shoulder. His glasses were askew and he couldn't make out anything. He looked around with a screwed up face and felt his glasses being righted and heard Zyaire's voice saying,

"Potter, it's almost an hour. I couldn't let you sleep here anymore. Get up and go to your office. You could continue sleeping there if you want." She rolled her eyes muttering something about incompetent aurors and cursing her fate because she always ends up doing all the work.

Harry gave her a guilty smile, apologising for his substandard work and left the place, dragging himself to his office, wanting to continue his nap there but when he opened the door to his office, it was evident it wasn't going to happen.

"I believe this is when you decide to raise a ruckus and defame the Ministry for not saving your mum?" Harry enquired through a yawn. "Though the Ministry hasn't got a good reputation to _de_ -fame it anyway." , he added as an afterthought.

Draco didn't seem to be listening though, he slowly raised his hand and in it was clenched what seemed to be a once- perfectly shaped notepad but now it was deformed due to the crushed pages. After a second, Harry realised it was _his_ notepad and he knew exactly what Draco was showing. He could make out his irregular scrawl and in it was the boldly underlined sentence, _'How is Malfoy involved in the polyjuiced-death eaters' attack?'_

"What the hell does this mean, Potter?" Draco gritted out.

"I was going to ask you the same thing too." Harry replied calmly. He knew he should give him a direct answer, now was not the time to be talking in riddles, but when it comes to Draco Malfoy, he could never keep himself in check. 

"What?"

"One of the men in death eater cloaks blurted out _your_ name before being AK-ed---"

"And you just assumed that _I_ was somehow involved in the attack at Ollivander's! How typical of you! You might as well arrest me. Who knows, I could have killed that man too." Draco said in a mock serious attempt, shrugging his shoulders.

"For your information, I was only going to _ask_ you if you knew anything about it. I didn't _suspect_ you of having done anything! If I had, you would have been behind bars right now." Harry snapped.

"That's rich, Potter. What do you want me to do? Kiss the hem of your robes?"

"A simple thank you would suffice." said Harry, just to rile him up, the satire being evident in his voice.

"You bloody bastard----"

"You can't barge into _my_ office and call _me_ a bastard." Harry said smoothly.

"I didn't _barge in_! I was _asked_ to wait here."

"By who?" Harry's face contorted in suspicion.

"Your best mate."

"Ron?"

"Hey mate." It was Ron.

"Ron! What's he doing here?"

 "Sorry I'm late." Hermione came in behind Ron.

"Guys, what's going on?" Harry looked to each one in the room.

"Harry, it's about Ollivander's corroboration. Ron thought we've got to do something to keep Draco safe."  Hermione said.

"Would you mind elaborating?" Harry scratched his head awkwardly. He didn't like being the only one in the room who didn't understand what's going on.

"Harry! Ollivander recognised the wand to be Draco's! Now the ministry will want to question Draco on how Mrs. Malfoy had his wand clutched in her hand and he could get into trouble!"

"No no, Hermione. They will not waste time in _questioning_ , they'll directly arrest him." Ron snorted.  "It's Malfoy afterall.... the ministry just needs a good excuse to put him back in Azkaban."

"By the way, weren't you there during Ollivander's interview?" Ron asked Harry with raised eyebrows.

Before Harry could reply, Draco piped in "Knowing him, he probably would have slept with his eyes open. He's excellent at tuning out people when he doesn't have the mood to listen to them." Draco rolled his eyes and Harry stared. _How did Draco know that?_

"Okay now, coming back to the point, we've got to do something to prove Draco's innocence." Hermione resumed.

"Right now what we've got to do is prevent his immediate arrest. I think it's best if he goes into hiding for a while." suggested Ron.

"Before I do anything, how do I believe Potter's on my side. What if _he_ suddenly decides to arrest me?"

" I _told_ you I didn't believe for one second that you had anything to do with that attack, I was only going to ask you if _you_ suspected anyone." Harry sighed.

"Alright Potter, I was just trying to lighten up the mood. Don't be so serious."

"You've got to be serious! How did someone get hold of your wand in the first place?" Harry chided.

"No idea." Draco shrugged.

"Draco! How many times did I tell you to have your wand on you at all times. You've gotten so careless with it. Do you remember when was the last time you saw it?"

"I think I left it at my flat. I'm not very sure...."

*****************

Everybody was lost in thought for a while. Draco was trying to act cool but he was seething inside. If he had indeed left his wand at his place, the only two people who had access to his flat were his house owner and Claire, and both were muggles. Seeing as he didn't have any wards put up, anybody could break in and steal anything. He was pretty sure, whoever had stolen his wand would have used it to kill his mother in a heartbeat if only they'd had the chance. He was confident his mother had put up a very good fight, though.

After the brief visit with his mother, he had been brooding in his room, when a knock had interrupted his thoughts. Assuming it to be Potter, he had opened the door, but was shocked to find Weasley there. Weasley had explained the situation concerning his wand and had sneaked him inside the ministry again, only this time he had already made arrangements so there was no blazing sound of the alarm. He was then left here at Potter's office, while Weasley tried to fetch his wife and sort out the situation. Draco was still surprised that Weasley would go to such great heights to help him.

"I guess for the time being, Draco could shift over to our house. " Hermione's voice broke in upon his musings. "Harry, you could say he ran away or something when they come to your place in search of him."

"That sounds fine, but I won't stay cooped up inside. I have work to do." Draco declared.

"You're joking right? There's a high chance of you being thrown into Azkaban if someone so much as sees a glimpse of you! And if I remember correctly, that was the one place you were trying to avoid, weren't you?" Potter demanded.

"I won't get caught. I know how to be careful, Potter."

"What is the need for that is what I'm trying to ask! What's going to happen if you miss work for a couple of days!"

"Harry's right, you know. Your safety's more important, Malfoy." It was Weasley this time.

Draco didn't know how to explain to them that his safety lies in _going to work._

"You're not going anywhere, Draco and that's final." Potter commanded. Draco opened his mouth to retaliate but Hermione was already talking.

"It's okay, Harry. He'll be fine. He works in the muggle neighbourhood and it's quite far from here."

"But, Mione----"

"I'll go drop him everyday." she reasoned, leaving no room for argument.

************

There was a brief eye contact between Draco and Hermione, a swift nod was delivered in Draco's direction and cursory smile in acknowledgement that didn't go unnoticed by Harry. There was definitely something Hermione was hiding and Harry needed to know both what and why.

"So now how do we get him out of here?"asked Ron, gesturing towards Malfoy.

"First of all, why did you even get him here of all places?"

"I didn't know  which part of the ministry you were in, Harry and I wasn't able to contact Hermione for a long time. I thought if I wait anymore, the aurors might get to him first, so I brought him here, which is the last place the aurors will think of looking in." Ron smiled pridefully.

"Leave it to me, I'll take him home." said Hermione and she practically pulled him along.

Even Ron looked confused by her behaviour.

"I'll see you later, Harry, got a lot of work to do." Ron waved him bye and shut the door behind him.

Harry stood there for sometime, trying to concoct a plan on how to get either Hermione or Draco to slip up and tell him what's happening but he knew both were too smart and waiting for them to say anything of their own accord will be a vain attempt on his side.

_Sod it. He was going to follow them tonight._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for still sticking with this story even when I'm so irregular. Don't forget to leave kudos and comments! :) :) :)

**Author's Note:**

> Reviews will be appreciated!!!


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